Finland has changed tactics this year and strayed away from it's long used Euroviisut format to be replaced with the new open casting show 'Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu'. From 540 acts in the running, just 12 remain and we speak to one of those acts today, synth pop quartet Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike. They caught up with us to talk to us about their reasons for participating in UMK, their thoughts on Eurovision and give us one of the most creative answers about their band name that we've ever heard.

escXtra: Hello Guys! Thanks for taking some to speak to us today. Firstly we’d like to congratulate you on your qualification to Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2012!

Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike: Thanks! It's our greatest achievement since the release of our debut album.

X: Firstly for all our readers who aren’t familiar with you guys, would you be able to introduce yourselves and tell us a little about your career so far?

K: We're a quartet playing synth pop with some progressive elements. The band was founded in 2003 by Mikko, our synth player. The other members are Visa (vocals), Eero (drums) and Pessi (bass). We released our debut album "Lehtipeitteen suojelijat" (Sentinels of the Carpet of Leaves)

X: How did you all come together to form Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike? What does the name mean?

K: The name means literally "A Giraffe Called Twinkle". The name originates from when Mikko was playing his synthesizer on a beach. Suddenly, he found the perfect melody, which opened a portal to the Giraffe World. There he met Tuike (Twinkle) the Giraffe, who asked Mikko to form a band and start making music about nice things.

X: You were one of the lucky 12 songs who survived the cut from the original 540 to make it to the live shows. How did you find out you had made it to the actual show and where were you at the time?

K: The guys from YLE were actually interviewing us when they suddenly told us that we're among the top 12. They wanted to get our reactions on tape. You can see our dumbfounded faces at the end of the first episode. ;)



X: Can you tell us a little bit about your song ‘Sinisulkien Viimeinen’ and what it is about?

K: Its name means literally "The Last of the Bluefeathers". It's a story about a bird who is the only one left with its blue plumage in a black world.

X: With no offense intended, your style is not exactly the style of music that Eurovision fans are used to hearing. What was behind the decision to enter UMK this year?

K: Lordi wasn't either, and yet he was the first Finnish artist ever to win the Eurovision. ;) Besides, it was pointed out that songs from all genres would be welcome in the competition.

X: The ultimate aim at the end of this show is to compete in the 2012 Eurovsion song contest in Baku. How do you feel about Eurovision in general and what would it mean to represent Finland in this contest. Do you have any favourite Eurovision songs?

K: It's a really entertaining show! Even if some of the songs aren't that original, there are many good pieces every year. For example, Mama by Anastasia Prihodko, Bistra Voda by Regina and Satellite by Lena. We'd be honoured to represent Finland there.

X: If you are unsuccessful at winning the ticket to Baku, what are your plans for the rest of 2012?

K: We're already pretty far in composing our second album, so that's probably our biggest project. Other than that - lots and lots of gigs in whole of Finland, and maybe even abroad.

X: When you’re not performing, what do you do with yourselves?

K: We're mostly students. Mikko is in engineering, Pessi studies music and Visa does law. Eero is working in the IT business. Our favourite pastime is probably going to the sauna.

X: Unlike former Eurovision Selections for Finland, the majority of the UMK entries are in Finnish, your song included. Do you prefer to sing in Finnish or do you perform in other languages too?

K: Finnish has been our thing from the very beginning. If we were to perform in Baku, we would prefer to do it in Finnish. However, we could record the song in other languages as well. Our singer is fluent in Finnish, English, Swedish and Russian and knows some French too, so we'd have a wide variety of languages to choose from.

We generally like people giving their performances in their native language. At least here in Finland every song is translated into Finnish and the translation is shown during the performance, so you get the idea of the song in any case. But it's a hard world and performances in English seem to fare better. It's a shame.

X: Finally, do you have a message for our readers?

Our music might seem weird at first, but we do it with all our hearts -- so please give it a chance!

Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike are among the top 12 who will be whittled down to 6 acts before the final Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu on February 25th. We would like to wish them all the best of luck and hope that the magic Giraffes of Giraffe World can help them on their quest to Baku and with whatever comes next in their careers! You can hear their song 'Sinisulkien Viimeinen’ below:

• By Liam Clark on Feb 2, 2012Source: escXtra.com, escXtra, Kirahvi nimeltä Tuike