Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1980 with the song "", composed by Aarno Raninen, with lyrics by Vexi Salmi, and performed by Vesa-Matti Loiri. The Finnish participating broadcaster, (Yle), selected its entry through a national final.
Before Eurovision (Yle) invited twelve composers for the competition. One of them, , declined the invitation. The Finnish national selection consisted of a semi final and a final.
Semi-final The semi-final was held on 12 January 1980, and it was hosted by Heikki Harma. From the eleven entries the six finalists were chosen by an expert jury. The members of the jury were , Jussi Raittinen, , , Rauno Lehtinen, , , , and Markku Fagerlund. Each juror awarded 1 to 6 points for each song. The full results were not revealed.
+ Semi-final – 12 January 1980 Artist Song Songwriter(s) Result 1 Paula Koivuniemi "Romantiikkaa" 2 Tapani Kansa and "Hyvä on" 3 "Oh la la" 4 Kirka and "Karthago" Qualified 5 Vesa-Matti Loiri "Huilumies" Qualified 6 "Eräs lapsi ei nuku" Qualified 7 Tapani Kansa "Kun ystävän mä sain" Lasse Mirsch 8 "Lady Day" Qualified 9 "Päättymätön laulu" Qualified 10 and Band "Nopea talven valo" Qualified 11 and Pepe Willberg "Jos voimaa on"
Final Yle held the final on 8 March 1980 at its television studios in Tampere, hosted by Mikko Alatalo. After the Eurovision Preselection, this was proceeded by the Intervision preselection, where all six songs were sung by Marion. The winner was chosen by regional juries. Each jury group consisted of 15 members, and each juror distributed their points between 1–6 points for each song.
+ Final – 8 March 1980 Artist Song Points Place 1 Vesa-Matti Loiri "Huilumies" 386 1 2 and Band "Nopea talven valo" 190 6 3 Kirka and "Karthago" 315 2 4 "Lady Day" 210 5 5 "Päättymätön laulu" 240 3 6 "Eräs lapsi ei nuku" 234 4
+ Scoreboard Song scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Total 1 "Huilumies" 75 75 78 85 73 386 2 "Nopea talven valo" 38 41 39 34 38 190 3 "Karthago" 66 64 59 67 59 315 4 "Lady Day" 39 42 46 37 46 210 5 "Päättymätön laulu" 47 31 51 53 58 240 6 "Eräs lapsi ei nuku" 50 62 42 39 41 234
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Loiri performed 10th in the running order following Switzerland and preceding Norway. Loiri was accompanied by , , Maarit Hurmerinta, and as backing vocalists. The Finnish entry was conducted by Ossi Runne. Finland placed last in the contest with six points.
Voting
+ Points awarded to Finland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
+ Points awarded by Finland Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
References
External links