Tangomarkkinat revisited

I have been thinking about this year's prizewinning tangos. The winner was Sua kaipaan, or I Miss You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPisMfhhYv8 This is composed and performed by Mariska, best known as Finnish rap artist. The runner-up is Taas lasken tiilten päät, or I count the bricks again, performed here by Arja Sipola, the first ever Tango Queen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiRYhUNptIg&feature=related . This is possibly the most miserable tango in 130 years of tango misery:

"Now the door of my miserable cell slams shut behind me, even though only yesterday tender moments were part of my life. When my days were condemned to this miserable prison, these dreams were sentenced to suffering in eternal shackles. Now I will sleep and wake in floods of tears. I just count the bricks and wonder what our wedding would have been like. Cake,champagne, dancing and kisses? Now I will taste only bread and water . . ."

I won't go on as I don't want to ruin your entire day. But I am only now wondering if this was inspired by the last chapter of Numminen's Tango is my Passion, where Virtanen is jailed for the killing of his fiancee Anja. I should have made the connection before: perhaps it was hidden by the female singer.

I described how I bought the Tangomarkkinat 1 compilation and found it was an EP. I have now discovered that there was a Tangomarkkinat 1 LP. It was on huuto.net and I was high bidder. Unfortunately I never got it as the seller refused to send it abroad. I am aware that it is forbidden to send archaeological treasures of outstanding national interest out of Greece and Egypt: perhaps the Finnish government regards early Tangomarkkinat records in the same light.

Kaija Lustila records seem to be fetching high prices now. There is one going for 50 euros on huuto.net. I would have bought it, but the seller refuses to use Paypal or the Scandinavian equivalent Payson, insisting on bank transfer. This involves bank charges of 30 pounds on top.

There is a very low budget programme on Finnish tv at the moment. It is called Soduku and all you see is a Sudoku grid. You can text in the numbers to complete it at .95 euros a go. As far as I can see there is no prize. Soundtrack is whatever happens to be on their equivalent of Radio 2 at the time. You do hear the occasional tango.

Strictly Come Dancing

The new series of Tanssii tähtien kanssa, the Finnish version of Strictly, will start on 19th September and will be presumably be viewable on tvkaista. Ten couples, so the series will not be ridiculously long. The only celebrity I have heard of is Laura Voutilainen, but I think I am going to like Satu Silvo (have a look at her pics on Google Images and you will see what I mean).