ESC 2007: Irish entry and the Finnish hopefuls

Ireland

Eurovision champion Ireland decided to return to the origens and send folk group Dervish (photo above) to represent RTE in Helsinki. The last Irish victory was back in 1996 with Eimear Quinn and the celtic ballad The Voice, so maybe they are trying to repeat a winning strategy insteed of going for another male ballad that could be considered a bit repetitive after last year's Every song is a cry for love. Also, in recent ESC history Belgium group Urban Trad reached 2nd place in 2003 with the song Sanomi, a folk inspired song. I'm not exactly crazy about this Irish choice but I'm not dissapointed either, I will need to listen to the song first to make my judgment.

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Finland

Host broadcaster YLE has announced the list of the 12 acts that will be hopping to represent Finland in the upcomming ESC. General reactions to this names seems to be one of disappointment. Their 2002 entry Laura will give the ESC another try and is comming up has the big fan favourite. From what I could listen so far the most interessanting act seems to be Katra (pic above), a singer that mixes and operatic voice with rock music. The Beach Boys wanna be's Jani & Jetsetters also seem like fun.
Here is a list of the 12 Finnish hopefuls and their websites so you take a sneak peak at their works:
1. Beats and Styles - www.beatsandstyles.com
2. Hanna Pakarinen - www.hanna-pakarinen.com
3. Humane - www.humanemusic.com
4. Jani & Jetsetters - www.jetsetters.fi
5. Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue - www.jwra.net
6. Johanna Kurkela - www.wmserver.net/johannakurkela
7. Jukka Kuoppamäki
8. Katra - www.katra.fi
9. Kentala - http://www.kentala.net
10. Laura - http://www.lauravoutilainen.fi/
11. Lovex - www.lovex.fi
12. Thunderstone - http://www.thunderstone.org/