The 12 songs competing in the Finnish national final this year are:
Kwan will sing 10000 Light Years
Riikka will sing Meren
Tapani Kansa will sing Rakkautta On, Rauhaa Ei
Tiara will sing Manala
Sani will sing Doctor, Doctor
Passionworks will sing Surrender
Remu will sing Planeetta
Waldo's People will sing Lose Control
Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen will sing Speakerbox
Janita will sing Martian
Vink will sing The Greatest Plan
Jari Sillanpää will sing Kirkas Kipinä
Some familiar Eurovision Song Contest-related name are among the Finnish singers this year. Jari Sillanpää represented Finland in the contest in Istanbul in 2004 - he had already tried to represent Finland in 1998 before. Riikka also participated in the 2004 Finnish national final, but lost out to Jari. Sani came second in the Finnish final of 2002 as part of the group Aikakone. Another veteran in the field is the 59-year-old Tapani Kansa who had also tried before to represent Finland in Europe's biggest music show.
Eurovision Laulukilpailu Suomen Karsinta 2009 will kick off on January 9th with the first of three semi-finals. 4 songs will compete in each semi-final with the top 2 directly qualifying for the final on January 31st which will take place in Tampere. The 6 artists that don't manage to qualify directly shouldn't give up their hopes though as they will have another chance to secure one of the two remaining spots in a Second Chance round. Both the semi-finals and the finals will be hosted by Mikko "Peltsi" Peltola and Jaana Pelkonen.
