YLE PRESENTS THE
UMK 2012 JUDGES
YLE has just revealed the names of the judges that will decide wich of the 40 demos will continue the race to represent Finland in Eurovision 2012. First only 12 songs will remain for the weekly shows and after that only 6 songs will compete in the Final.
The permanent judges are: Wallu Valpio (Hitlantis and a music all-rounder), Anna Laine (head of programming, Radio Helsinki), Tomi Saarinen (head of music, YleX radio) and Jorma Hietamäki (head of music, Radio Suomi). Each week will feature a guest judge. The guest judge of the first week will be singer-songwriter Anna Puu, while in the second week the guest judge will be Laura Narhi, also a singer-songwritter.
On 27 January the judges will reveal the 12 songs that will continue the batle for the UMK Final. The 12 songs will be produced into new version with professional producers. UMK will go head-to-head in a battle of ratings against the Finnish edition of Idols (MTV3) and the brand-new show The Voice of Finland (Nelonen). There is even some overlapping with some contestants taking part in both UMK and The Voice.
The UMK grand final is scheduled on 25 February in Helsinki Ice Hall. You can listen to the 40 demos here. Watch the UMK trailer here
