I Visited Palace Of Queluz Last January Which Is One Of The Best Kept Secrets In Sintra / Lisbon Located

Oriente train station in Lisbon. Couldn’t decide in which colour I like it more...

As excited I was year ago to book my flight to Canada... I am now even more sad to book my flight back home. July 28th.

I loved Évora! 

UMK 2023 Song Review - Käärijä

The hype is very real around Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), the Finnish national selection for Eurovision and the race to Liverpool continues with ..... I don’t know what this is actually! 

Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha 

Most of Finns had never heard of Käärijä before the artist release of UMK23 a month back. Including me. So zero expectations. I didn’t know the language he was gonna perform, I maybe expected some dancy sounding tune based on the title. However, he described his song that “this track combines all three big Finnish loves together: party, pop and heavy music”. Should have known something crazy will be coming up ever since I read he’s a ESC Verka Serduschka fan (Ukraine 2007).  

Cha Cha Cha gets your attention from the first second untill the last one. You know right away that you have something in here. The song kind of starts with rap, there’s techno sounds also, the darkness reminds me of Hatari (Iceland 2019) the chorus is aggressive almost violent but catchy and memorable as hell. The music video is a perfect fit to this! Be prepared to be knocked out by some Cha Cha Cha!

There’s no one like this in UMK or in Eurovision. Then when you think you’re figured out the song everything turns upside down and the song becomes this pop-folk banger. I can hear Verka here actually! A definite late night dancefloor hit in a Finnish bar! The ending is explosive, just pure fireworks and you’re like WTF did I just hear. 

There’s a wide selection of genres here, just take your pick while trying to put this guy into one box.

Käärijä likes to confuse people and traditional sounds aren’t his thing. This is definitely clear! Cha Cha Cha will surely test boundaries, push some people away as it will cheer up and encourage others. This will surely cause a reaction and sometimes that’s all it’s needed from a decent hit and Eurovision song. In the end lovers count more than the haters. This is by far the most played and watched UMK entry this year in all the platforms. Foreigner ESC bloggers have been mostly excited about this and highlighting how Finnish language fits these hard sounds perfectly. 

I can definitely see this advancing to ESC (I don’t think even a bad UMK staging might stop people from voting for this!) and put my money on it that Europeans will this time around understand a piece of Finnish crazyness! 

What do you think of the fifth UMK23 track and would you vote for Käärijä’s Cha Cha Cha to go all the way to Liverpool? UMK final takes place on February 25th!

Lisbon / Portugal blogs

Lisbon and Portugal isnpire hundreads of travel posts, bloggers and videos but there are a few that stand out for me which I check out regurarly. 

HERE TO GO TO

http://www.wheretwogoto.com/category/around-portugal/around-lisbon/

A travel blog for Portugal and outside of it. Good tips for day or weekend trips from Lisbon. Written by expat couple in English.

SALT OF PORTUGAL

https://saltofportugal.com/about/

Mainly about Lisbon and Portugal. Different themes you can search for posts produced by small group of posts. I like that concept how they create this thing together. Nice artwork. They also have their own voicemap tour of Lisbon! And scarfs inspired by Lisbon tiles.In English.

LISBON BY LIGHT

https://www.lisbonbylight.com/lisbon-stories/

This is lovely even though more like a design blog. I love the idea of ’stories of Lisbon’ as locals of the city, often artists. Great strories and inspirations.  Great way to discover portuguese brands and artists. Very ’arty’, very Lisboa.

THE LITTLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

http://www.littleupsidedowncake.com/category/lisbon-stories/

Like the name tells you already this about eating in Lisbon and elsewhere in the world. Another not a travel blog. You can look for recipes according to the time of the year, which is a fun idea. Love the posts of different cafés of Lisbon. Also stories behind the counter. Amazing photos!

LISBOA COOL / LISBON SECRETA / TIME OUT

Available in Portuguese as in English. These are all quite similar, commercial websites about Lisbon. Tips for visiting and learning more of it but also events, restaurants, cafes… Time Out comes out as a magazine once a week if you prefer.

VISUAL DIARY

https://www.lily.fi/blogit/visual-diary

In Finnish. Written by a graphic designer living in Lisbon for over 3 years. She writes about life, in general but especially in Lisbon. Great lists. Also about design. I love her photos. She also has a great instagram account worth following if you speak Finnish.

instagram

LISBON ME PLEASE / LISBOA LIVE / LISBOA COME

https://www.instagram.com/lisbon_me_please/

https://www.instagram.com/lisboalive/

https://www.instagram.com/lisboa.come/

Do you follow blogs about your home city /country? 

The buildings of Helsinki. Loving the colour and small details in them.

Don’t have time to publish all my Portugal photos before going to the next tour! 

Random Portugal shots mostly from Porto

UMK top 3 worst and best stagings (recent years)

All Eurovision fans out there know that the staging is half of the performance and it can either kill you or raise you. 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu has had a track record of producing both over the recent years. Here are my top three for each category. The performances do not appear in my favourite order! 

TOP3 THE BEST UMK STAGINGS that have managed to elevate the songs : 

The Rasmus - Jezebel (2022 UMK winner)

Despite of being the biggest favourite when going in to UMK last year The Rasmus’ song didn’t quite reach the hights as a studio cut. However, the playful and colourful live performance elevated this one for me

Akseli Kankaanranta - Looking back (2020 winner) 

Akseli pushed through passed the fan favourite Cicciolina back in 2020 with his well balanced and stylish live performance! 

NormaJohn - Blackbird (UMK 2017 winner) 

Back in 2017 Blackbird left many people cold with its studio cut but when performed live.... the emotion was real and very atmospheric! 

TOP3 THE WORST UMK STAGINGS that have ruined the song’s success in the contest : 

Bess - Ram pam pam (UMK 2022)

Bess Ram Pam Pam eventually became the biggest hit in Finland last year but her UMK staging ended up being messy, confusing and not meeting the hype of the song before going in to the UMK live. 

Erika Vikman - Cicciolina (UMK 2020)

Can someone explain me what those bears and forest do on the same stage with sinful Cicciolina? This performance made no sense to me at all. Not then or not now. 

Saara Aalto - Monsters (winning song in 2018) 

Despite of winning the entry ticket to Lisbon’s Eurovision back in 2018 Monsters live performance was complex to start with. I liked the beginning with the cape and all but they ended up adding here too many elements (this got worse in Lisbon). 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu Final takes place tomorrow February 25th on Yle Areena at 9pm (FIN time zone)! Let’s see how the seven acts will do and if fan favourites are able to keep their positions!

Part Une: Another round of shots taken by me all over Helsinki. Obsessed with the waterfront, blackandwhite (they always look better, don’t they?) and flowers or any kind of hay. Got caught up by the storm, sunshine, following the duck and the lovely colours of autumn. And yes, filters used. One of these days I’ll get better at this and have courage to post my pics without them.