Finnish music band that participated in Eurovision2015 Song Contest 28.4.2015

Finland Post issued a special stamp in honor of the music band that participated in Finland’s Eurovision2015 Song Contest. The punk-inspired stamp was designed by Ari Lakaniemi and Susanna Rumpu. The colourful sheet of stamps also features portraits of each band member drawn by Pertti Kurikka. The issue was released on the 28^th of April 2015.

Finland’s Eurovision Song Contest entry Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät challenged discriminatory attitudes towards people with disabilities as they get on stage in the first Eurovision semi-final in Vienna, Austria, to perform their barnstorming hit song Aina mun pitää. Many are predicted that the band would sail through into the final. Posti released a new stamp to celebrate Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät in the week before the Eurovision Song Contest, on Monday, May 11, 2015.

Band’s singer Kari Aalto, featured in the foreground, is thrilled with the end result. “Us getting our own stamp definitely feels really excellent, fantastic and cool. The stamp looks great and I think it’s totally punk”, Aalto commented from their tour bus.

Bass player Sami Helle also thinks the stamp is great news, “It’s interesting, we’ve never appeared on a stamp before”. Drummer Toni Välitalo also thinks the stamp looks great, “I will definitely get some myself”, he commented. “It’s not bad, is it, getting your own stamp”, says guitarist Pertti Kurikka, summing up the bands feelings.

Thank you Ella for this fine stamp-sheet.

Eurovision 9.5.2007

The latest winner is Måns Zelmerlöw of Sweden, who won the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria with "Heroes".

Thank you Ari for this lovely First Day Cover of Eurovision 2007.

Ari gave me this lovelyFDC with the impressive minisheet issued by Finland in 2007. Several countries have issued Eurovision stamps in the past, but special mention must go to… Finland again! In 2007 it marked its hosting of the event with an issue celebrating some of its previous entrants, including, of course, Lordi, the awesome glam horror metal band who had won it for Finland the previous year (2006).  

The Eurovision Song Contest (French: Concours Eurovision de la chanson), often shortened to ESC orEurovision, is the longest running annual TV song competition held, primarily, among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy.

Each member, or invited, country submits a song to be performed on live television and radio and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Suriname, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Vietnam, although these countries do not compete. However, Australia was invited to compete as a guest country in 2015 for the 60 years of Eurovision celebration. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet, via the Eurovision website.

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides an opportunity for the winning artists to capitalise on the surrounding publicity and further their careers. Artists whose international careers were directly launched into the spotlight following their participation at Eurovision include: Italian Domenico Modugno, who came third with the song "Nel blu dipinto di blu" ("In the sky, painted blue", popularly known as "Volare") in 1958; ABBA, who won the contest for Sweden in 1974 with "Waterloo"; Céline Dion, who won for Switzerland in 1988 with the French-language song "Ne partez pas sans moi" ("Don't leave without me"); the Spaniard Julio Iglesias, who has sold over 300 million records worldwide, was beaten into fourth place by Dana, winning for Ireland in 1970 with "All Kinds of Everything"; and Bucks Fizz, who won in 1981 for the United Kingdom with "Making Your Mind Up".