Biography
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Born
17 August 1945 (age 78)
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Born In
Tohmajärvi, Pohjois-Karjala, Finland
Katri Helena Kalaoja-Rajala (born August 17th, 1945, Tohmajärvi) is a Finnish singer. She is more commonly known just as Katri Helena.
She has recorded over 400 songs and released 30 records. She has gotten 14 gold records, three platin records and one double platin record.
Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Finland (YLE)
Performer: Katri-Helena
Song title: Katso Sineen Taivaan
Song writer(s): Vexi Salmi
Song composer(s): Matti Siitonen
Sang in Position: 5
Final Position: 14
Total Points: 38
The 24th Eurovision Song Contest was held outside the geographical area of
Europe for the first time. Jerusalem played the proud host of the annual European event
The Israeli capital, Jerusalem, was this year's host city that welcomed 19 different delegations. Turkey withdrew from the contest because it took place in Israel and many Arab countries put some pressure on Turkey not to go to Jerusalem. Lots of the artists were familiar - they had returned to the contest like Peter, Sue & Marc from Switzerland, Anne-Marie David, the 1973 winner for Luxembourg, now singing for France, and Anita Skorgan for Norway.
Israel won for the second time in a row with the song Hallelujah which became a Europe-wide hit. Spain was the last country to cast its votes. At that moment Spain was in the lead with 1 point ahead of Israel, but the Spanish 10 points gave Israel its second victory. It was later rumoured Spain had deliberately given its points to Israel because they didn't want to win themselves.
The German entry, performed by band Dschinghis Khan also went on to become a hit in several European countries, despite being heavily criticised in Germany itself. Germany's neighbour Austria had a hard time though and came last. The entry, written by Peter Wolf and avantgarde artist André Heller about Jerusalem didn't prove to be popular with the national juries. The Swiss contestants Peter, Sue & Marc had difficulties getting into the country and had to explain to customs exactly why they needed so many watering cans, hoses, bin bags and bottle openers which were needed for their refreshing performance on the Jerusalem stage.
The Belgian singer Micha Marah was very unhappy with her song Hey Nana as this was selected against her will in the Belgian pre-selection. She refused to record the song and it remains one of the few songs in Eurovision Song Contest that don't have a studio-version. Monaco decided to withdraw from the contest after their singer Laurent Vaguener only reached the 16th place and the principality would only return again 25 years later, in 2004.
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
Finland (YLE)
Performer: Katri-Helena
Song title: Tule Luo
Song writer(s): Jukka Saarinen
Song composer(s): Matti Puurtinen
Sang in Position: 17
Final Position: 17
Total Points: 20
The tiny place of Millstreet in Ireland would be in the centre of European attention on 15th May, 1993 as it was the host city for the 38th Eurovision Song Contest.
First qualification heat
The small city of Millstreet, Ireland, was the host for this year's Eurovision Song Contest. 1993 was the first year to feature a pre-qualifying heat for Eastern European countries. In the run-up to the contest, the European Broadcasting Union started to take into account how many potential countries would apply to enter the contest.
The dissolution of the Eastern bloc and the disintegration of Yugoslavia created many new potential applicants. Because of that, seven countries from Eastern Europe had to participate in a preliminary heat called Kvalifikacija za Millstreet in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on the 3rd of April, in order to go to the final night of the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia and Croatia made it through the preliminary heat and made their debut in the song contest as independent nations. Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia had to wait till the following year to be eligible to enter Europe's biggest musical event.
Ireland had their second victory in a row with the song In Your Eyes performed by Niamh Kavanagh who shot to fame due to the original soundtrack to the movie The Commitments. After a nailbiting finish, Niamh managed to keep the entry from the United Kingdom second with the very last vote. The UK entry Better The Devil You Know by Sonia was seen by many as the favorite to win, as Sonia had had some international hits with the legendary producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Facts & figures
The venue for the 1993 contest was very unusual - it was a hall normally used for horse auctions in the tiny town of Millstreet, near Cork. The contestants complained they were in the middle of nowhere with not a pub in sight. However, the Irish audience made up for this inconvenience as they enthusiastically welcomed all participating nations and also gave a special warm reception for the entry from Bosnia & Herzegovina - a country in a state of war in 1993.
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