The first semi final takes place on Friday the 8th of January. All in all there will be three semi finals followed by the final on the 30th of January. Five entries compete in each of which three will qualify for the final via televoting. The 10th entry in the final will be chosen by a jury, among those songs that didn’t qualify in the first round.

This year YLE Finland decided to let the public vote for their favorites, which means three of the songs have been chosen via Internet voting.The competition is broadcasted from Tampere and the hosts are the well-known Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola. Jaana was the female host during ESC in Helsinki 2007.

Hera are the entries in semi-final 1, 8th of January:

1. AMADEUS - "Anastacia"
Music: Risto Asikainen
Lyrics: Ilkka Vainio, Risto Asiakainen
Arrangements: Risto Asikainen, Arttu Volantu
Amadeus Lundberg became famous this summer in connection with the annual Finnish tango competition. His first single ”Matador” has been radio-hit in Finland.

2. NINA LASSANDER - "Cider Hill"
Music: Janne Hyöty, Paul Oxley
Lyrics: Paul Oxley
Arrangements: Janne Hyöty, Paul Oxley
Nina Lassander is a young talented singer from the Swedish-speaking part of Finland. She has been studying music in Finland as well as in Boston, USA. 1998 she participated in a competition called ”Stjärnskottet”.  The song is written by two music veterans. The British Paul Oxley (Malcolm Campbell) had a career starting from 1980 with his band Paul Oxley’s Unit.

3. BÄÄBS - "You don't know tomorrow"
Music: Riku Kärkkäinen, Tommi Forsström
Lyrics: Riku Kärkkäinen
Arrangements: Riku Kärkkäinen, Tommi Forsström, Päivi Kankaro
Bääbs or Päivi Kankaro is one of the artists who qualified via internet voting. She is unknown for most of the audience and this is her first big performance. She has a predilection for burlesque-culture and the pin-ups á la 50s. She has promised a dramatic and entertaining show.

4. BOYS OF THE BAND (BOB) - "America (I think I love you)"
Music: BOB
Lyrics: Kimmo Blom
Arrangements: BOB
Boys Of The Band is a new constellation but the members have a long career in music together with different bands. Apocalyptica to mention one of them. Apocalyptica performed in connection with ESC in Helsinki as one of the intermission programs. The drummer in BOB competed together with Natalia Podolskaya for Russia in ESC 2005. The parents of the bass player, Jarkko & Laura, represented Finland in ESC Madrid 1969.

5. PENTTI HIETANEN - "Il mondo è qui"
Music: Lasse Heikkilä
Lyrics: Petri Kaivanto, Stefano de Sando
Arrangements: Jarkko Kiiski
Pentti Hietanen is considered to be one of the most popular artists among the Finnish audience. He has sold 150000 albums and participated in musicals, operettas and operas.

Listen to the songs on:
http://svenska.yle.fi/program/visa.php?id=999