1998 Birmingham - Number 6 - Ultra Bra - "Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä"
Gosh this one's complicated. Let's start with Ultra Bra (Very good - in Swedish). They're a band with explicitly left-wing political origins, being formed at a music competition held by the Finnish Democratic Youth League. The band have a had a large roster of members who come and go, with differing numbers of members at any given time.
In 1998, their star was in the ascendant, having had their second album Kroketti (Croquet) sell very well on the back of a few years of buliding their reputation on tour around Finland. At their heart were three people Olli Virtaperko, Kerkko Koskinen and Kerkko's wife Anni Sinnemäki. Anni Sinnemäki was not in the band, but wrote many of the lyrics to their songs. She also went on to become the Finnish Minister of Labour as a member of the Government, the Leader of political party the Green League. Later she became Deputy Mayor of Helsinki. Yes - Ultra Bra are that political.
This song Tyttöjen välisestä ystävyydestä (About Friendship Between Girls) is weird. It's an upbeat, pop-rock number with massed voices almost shouting its words in close harmony. A choir of chanting voices telling Finland about two girls so into each other that passers-by have to swerve to avoid them, but then they want the same boys and also hide on roofs. I don't know much of this is Finnish idiomatic language and how much is poetic expression. There's a cultish sensation about both the singing and the song.
Nevertheless, it's catchy as hell. Close-harmony choral singing is often compelling and here there's no exception, especially backed by the orchestra.
This is another of the songs in Euroviisut 1998 that finished joint third in a very close competition. They got points from the experts, the fans and the televote, not really being favoured by any of them. The song itself went on to be a fairly big hit in Finland. Ultra Bra entered Euroviisut again in 2000, but without such a good result. They split as a band 2001 with various members going on to form several other bands including Scandinavian Music Group.
