First let's have a flashback to one year back, March 2006.
On tv I saw what happened at the national selection of the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest entry for that year. There were various nominees, of all kinds of styles: even a ballad in Italian, and then there was also this absurd monster rock song by Lordi, the band from Rovaniemi, Lapland.
The counting of the telephone votes went by region, and after this, several entries were still more or less even. But then the mobile telephone votes still hadn't been counted. And those were primarily youths, and there was quite a number of them. When those had been counted as well, the monsters of Lordi suddenly had the most votes by far. So that would have to be it!
Many reacted in shock to this. "Oh no, we're not going to send those monsters to the Eurovision, are we? What are people supposed to think of Finland then?" But it had been decided democratically, so you can't go back on that.

One side remark still. Finland has, of all the Eurovision participants, possibly the most inglorious past. They have been participating since 1961, but had never won yet, and practically always even ended up at the bottom areas of the list.
This also hasn't done much good to Finland's self-confidence as a country. Sandwiched between glamorous Sweden, which always has been so much better at everything -including the Song Contest-, and evermore scary Russia, Finland watches all European developments from a distance, not really having the feeling of being part of the game.
But because of this lack of self-confidence, the Finns would also never turn their backs on Europe, nor on the Song Contest. Even though they kept losing, they kept participating in good spirit. There were even such enthusiasts here, that the first Eurovision Song Contest Fanclub was founded in Finland in 1984.
Add that to the fact that Finland, because of their traditional losing position, never actually had anything to lose, so they could experiment nicely. They have done everything: reggae, jazz, political punk, folk, tangoes, singing in Finnish, Swedish, or with not many words. But they hardly ever managed even to be noticed on the European stage.
This is why last year, many Finns thought: it doesn't matter what we do. Nothing is too crazy if we want to be noticed at all. So just send those monsters! There is certainly a point in that...

Anyway, Lordi went to Athens in May 2006, and the result is history. They got more than noticed. The monsters crushed Europe and converted everybody to the 'Hard Rock Hallelujah'. That night in Helsinki, people on the street were cheering, dancing, singing, jumping, and crying for joy.
"Is it really true? I can't believe it!" "Oh, what a wonderful feeling!"
This was a cheerfulness which you don't see so often here in the far north, except when there is mention of a golden ice hockey cup (1995).

And those voices that were so worried about Finland's monstrous image, you suddenly didn't hear anymore. The boys of Lordi were taken in as national heroes, and the 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' you heard the whole year from all loudspeakers, to the point of  annoyance.
But, oops... this actually made the situation a lot more difficult! Not only did the Finns now have to make sure that the next Finnish Eurovision entry would not end again way at the bottom (what an embarrassment that would be!), but also did Finland now get to organise the next Song Contest, and can present itself that way to Europe! All those guests that will come here! Everybody already thinks anyway that Finland only is a country of cold weather, bad food and expensive alcohol, so what do we do to make sure they won't be confirmed in this?
This is also an uncomfortable position for a people that are used to losing. Self pity seems a part of the Finnish character, and as such it isn't easy to suddenly win, and then have to keep up a reputation!

But it didn't all stay with cheers and worries. Finland immediately set to work to organise the Song Contest of 2007 in Helsinki. And when the Finns set to work, they do it well. Driven partly by happiness, partly by urge to give a good picture of the country, everything was given to organise a good festival.
So it happens that in May 2007 a two weeks lasting music festival is going on in the entire city. Live music in lots of bars, a 'Europe market' (a holiday fair actually) on the parkstreet Esplanade, film presentations on various squares, and a stage outside the shopping center Kamppi where the Eurovision contesters are already presenting themselves to the Helsinki public. And on Senate Square, near the well-known Lutherian cathedral, is a large stage, where every day some well-known bands are performing.
The Song Contest itself is in the big ice hockey arena that fits 10,000 people, but it can also be followed on a massive tv-screen on Senate Square, as well as on tv screens on other squares and in practically all pubs.

On Friday evening (between the semifinals and the finals of the Song Contest) is the climax of the festivities, the 'Helsinki Party', a street festival. Performances of lots of dance groups from various cultures on the streets.
The English Morris dance group the Helsinki Morrisers, with whom I have played earlier (when I lived in Finland the last time), have asked me to bring my fiddle along and accompany them. I don't remember the tunes exactly, but oh well, I should be able to improvise that.
I try to listen carefully to the other musician, who switches to and fro between whistle and clarinet. But because his whistle is tuned a lot lower than his clarinet, I spend more time tuning than playing. Embarrassed, I ask afterwards from my girlfriend Hanna, who has been watching, whether it was terribly out of tune.
"I couldn't hear you!" is the answer.
Minimal impact, apparently. But never mind, at least it is nice to see my old friends back again.

A little later in the evening is a parade of the dance groups though the centre. At first, I just want to go and watch, but the Morris group lets me know by phone that they will still appreciate my support. So I make my way with my fiddle on my back through the masses of people to the place where the Morrisers are ready to go. In the meantime a third musician has also shown up, with a sousaphone.

Several members of the Helsinki Morrisers, with musicians John, Peter and Max,
on the Northern Esplanade (photo by Tony Shaw)

Among the overpowering sounds and colours of samba bands, circus groups and brass bands, we go on our way. I still don't remember well what to play; the whistle player, who is the only one who knows the tunes, I can hardly hear. I just improvise something, while our dancers jump to and fro on my sounds (they can't hear the whistle either). Still, we seem to attract attention from a lot of bystanders, children come running up and people take pictures. This turns out to be because of the sousaphone, a very photogeneic instrument. Also he largely improvises his playing, so I notice, but that doesn't matter.
Also the photographer of the only really big newspaper of the country, Helsingin Sanomat, thinks we're funny enough for a picture, as it turns out the next day in the newspaper. Right before and behind us are young girls in tight sexy clothes who are performing lots of circus stunts. But the photographer has more eye for three elderly men who hardly know their way with their instruments. This is Finland. (Was the photographer maybe an older woman herself? I haven't seen him/her.) It appears afterwards that we are even to be seen on tv.
Meanwhile I just play every Irish jig that comes to mind, because that sounds a little like English music, and I play much faster than is normal, because I have already noticed that the important thing is the atmosphere rather than a smooth performance. The Morris dancers jump on with vigour.
The parade ends on Senate Square, where later on, a couple of live bands will be playing. The party goes on seamlessly.

The next day, Saturday evening, at first I am on Senate Square with a couple of friends, enjoying the mangificent performance of the Karelian folk band Värttinä, after which we go and look for a pub to watch the Song Contest. We also could stay with the thousands of people on the square to watch the massive tv screen, but we are afraid we'll get hypothermia that way.
The strange thing here in this time of year is the following: although the sun shines abundantly and very long each day, and consequently it is very agreeable during the day, and doesn't really get dark at night, it does still cool down a lot in the evening. Get out of a bar at night, and the sky is blue, but you will catch a cold!
Because of this, we make our way to a pub with a decent looking tv screen, and position ourselves on bar stools on a strategic spot, because that's still possible now: it isn't very busy yet.
Waiting until the song show starts, it does fill up nicely. People who are already reasonably drunk, especially women, dance around us on the beats of 'Hard Rock Hallelujah', interchanged with other former Finnish Eurovision entries, and the one of this year, Hanna Pakarinen with 'Leave me Alone'. Of course it's again a rock song.
I chat a little with the woman standing next to me, and who explains to me which songs we are hearing right now. I can notice well how proud she is of Lordi, and how much faith she has now in Hanna Pakarinen. Were there last year beforehand so many doubts about Lordi, and so many people who distantiated themselves from the monster act, this year the goth Hanna Pakarinen is everybody's sweetheart, so it seems. 'Leave me alone' is being sung along at full voice (so they're actually not doing what she asks).
The Song Contest starts and its sound is turned on, but around us the party just continues. The atmopshere reminds me a lot of traditional Amsterdam bars. In the middle of a great atmosphere we watch the entries of the various countries. Sometimes it is hard to hear because of all the noise around us. Every now and then the people dancing behind us bump into us.
Next to us, a drunk woman wants to sit down onto a legde, of which she doesn't notice that it is already full of glasses. She sits down in the middle of them, some glasses fall and break, but she clearly has something else on her mind: the fact that she's not able to stand anymore. For a while we think that she is unconscious, but a little later she turns out to be still quietly nipping from her glass.
At the door opening we can see queues of people trying to get in. Probably fleeing from the cold. Unfortunately for them, it is already completely packed here.
When on tv it is Hanna Pakarinen's turn, it suddenly becomes dead quiet in the pub, and everybody listens without taking a breath. Afterwards, the tv screen receives a thundering applause from the whole place.

After the song parade, at the point counting ceremony, we notice how seriously this should be taken. I say this because when it turns out that Finland does not get an awful lot of points, the party mood continues anyway. The Finns have retained something of their 'who cares, we'll lose anyway' attitude after all.
When it is Sweden's turn to give the points, through the whole pub goes a scary sounding 'boooooooo...!' Sweden is the country here that people like to see as the bad guy (and about which they like to joke because of this, in constrast to Russia, which is a much too serious case). But when it turns out that Sweden gives Finland 12 points, is is quiet for a moment. I look at the woman beside me, who has cheerfully booed along.
"Oops... er... those Swedes aren't so bad after all."

Soon it is clear: Serbia wins with their prayer song, and Finland has lost its glorious position. the woman next to me says:
"Oh, doesn't matter, tomorrow we'll win gold anyway."
This is because tomorrow is the finals of the ice hockey world championships. Undoubtedly the pub will then be full again.
But victory will turn out to be too much to ask there too: Canada wins gold and Finland silver. But also that doesn't matter. The Finns are good losers. After all, they have enough experience in it.

And so the party ends and everything becomes normal again. But there is no reason to be sad. The summer period is starting right now, the period of nice weather and all kinds of festivals all over the country. This is the time of the most positive atmosphere that you can experience in this country. In a way, the party has just started.