411/971 Riki Sorsa: Reggae Ok (Finland 1981)

Riki Sorsa is the other Finnish Eurovision legend to leave us during the Eurovision week of 2016. The death of Riki Sorsa did not come as a surprise. He had already beaten throat cancer in 2008 but the second time around the lung cancer got the better of him. Before his death Sorsa mad his illness public talking about the dangers of smoking. In a poignant  and dramatic video from 2016 he talks about having smoked for 30 years and now having cancer. "Did I stop too late" he asks in the video where he can be seen with and without his hair. Soon after that he died as a respected and loved pop singer at the age of 63 on the day of the first Eurovision semi final. 35 years previously he was in the beginning of his career.

In 1981 the Finnish Eurovision selection (watch it here) was full of established pop artists, and the popular favourite was either the Ralph Siegelish song Titanic sung by Frederik or a love duet Mun suothan tulla viereen sun sung by Eurovision veteran Markku Aro and his Singaporean girlfriend Nisa Soraya. There where also other popular entries and well known artists and there was a loud outcry when the jury of experts chose the most unknown performer of the evening with the most unlikely Eurosong.

I was among the large crowd of Finns who thought that by that choice we could kiss goodbye a decent placing in the final results. The 16th place in Dublin proved that the majority was this time right.

The expected low result did not harm Riki Sorsa, quite the contrary. Having sung previously rock in english he now changed the language permanently to Finnish and the style closer to the mainstream Finnish pop. His major successes included a finnish version of a Swedish hit Aftofalken (Muuttohaukka in finnish) and Haaveissa vainko oot mun, which narrowly lost the Finnish representation in 1985 Eurovision song contest to Sonja Lumme. In 1985 Riki also had another entry Lapset maailman which he sang together with another Eurovision veteran Ami Aspelund. That song came fourth. He entered Euroviisut twice after that with songs Viimeinen tie (3rd in 1991) and Silmiisi sun (4th in 1992). 

Years have been good to Reggae Ok. In the 21st century we have been accustomed to a larger variety of styles in Eurovision than in 1981 when the audience and juries expected disco, pop and schlager. The performance of a 28 years old singer is charismatic and he seems to be surprisingly at ease with his peculiar outfit that caused a lot of criticism particularly in the home front.

The band (with the composer Jim Pembroke with dark hair and in dark glasses) does a good job but the main asset of the group is the keyboard-player and accordionist Pedro Hietanen (a stand up comedian as well as an established musician), who all but steals the show from Riki Sorsa, The whole team seems to have a ball on stage.

After hating the song, I've since grown to appreciate and almost love the Finnish entry and I'm very proud that, once again, Finland dared to do something different in Eurovision.

My points 4/5.

420/917 Yiannis Dimitras: Feggari kalokerino (Greece 1981)

Nowadays when even the simplest love song is cluttered with background dancers, trapeze artists or figure skaters it is nice to be reminded of a song, that didn't need anything else than a singer, piano player and a rose to make an impact. That song was performed as the 420th Eurovision entry ever.

The Eurovision Song Contest of 1981 could almost be called an Eurovision Disco Contest, because almost half of the songs used to some extent the fashionable disco rhythms in their songs with mostly questionable results. Therefore the songs like the Greek entry were refreshing and welcome.

Feggari kalokerino was a marvellous piano driven ballad sung by the composer Yiannis Dimitras in a very convincing yet relaxed way. Without any backing singers he carried the song brilliantly on his shoulders singing with tenderness and personality that really didn't need any superfluous extravaganza to back him. Young female pianist and a simple rose on top of the grand piano was the perfect finishing touch for this Eurovision pearl.

The song received deserved 8th place in the final results and it remained for a long time one of the best results of Greece in the contest. To me it is a warm memory of the 1981 contest.

My points 4/5.

422/917 Peter, Sue & Marc: Io senza te (Switzerland 1981)

Switzerland has used all its four national languages in the Eurovision song contest. With couple of songs in english they hold the record of the number of different languages used in the contest. A Swiss trio Peter, Sue & Marc hold a similar record having taken part four times in the contest, each time using a different language.

Their last participation was in 1981 which also gave the group its best result. Io senza te was a passionate Italian ballad, which in Italy's absence and with a perfect place in the running order (19th song sung among 20 entries) struck the right chord among the audience loving the mediterranean ballad. After a very narrow voting Switzerland ended fourth just 16 points short of winning the contest altogether.

That was maybe a good thing. The song, composed by Peter Reber from the group, included a instrumental passage played, apparently, with a pan flute. According to some sources the sound of the flute came from the backing tape. As the acoustic instruments were not allowed (in 1981 that is) to be pre-recorded, the song would probably have been subject to protests if the it had won.

Year 1981 marked the end to the 10 year run of the group. After that the three singers have performed together only occasionally.

The Swiss entry remains one of the most enduring songs from the 1981 contest often dismissed for being full of second rate disco ditties. To me, Io senza te would have been a perfect winner.

My points 4/5.