Editorials & Opinion

Xtra’s pick of the 80s

Welcome back to our new daily series, as we travel back in time and one of our editors picks out a song each day from Eurovisions gone by and puts it into the spotlight. Today is Wednesday, which means we move to the 80s and Liam brings you his pick from the Eurovision archives.

Finland 1987: Vicky Rosti – Sata Salamaa (15th place)


I think that my love of certain songs comes from the amount of emotional attachment I have connecting myself to a song. Songs that I otherwise might not really have given a second thought to suddenly take on a whole new context which allows them to become something really special. This is what has happened with Sata Salamaa for me.
The 1987 Eurovision Song Contest took place just over 24 hours before I was born and it was won by a guy who was also born in Australia, so I’ve always felt quite a strong connection to the contest of my birth year. But initially I don’t think I really thought too much about Virve Rosti aka Vicky Rosti’s song.
It wasn’t until I was an exchange student at the University of Tartu in Southern Estonia back in 2012 that I connected to this song thanks to my Finnish dorm mate Mikko. He wasn’t really a huge Eurovision fan but this was his favourite Finnish Eurovision song and it resulted in it being played at every party we hosted, leaving me to always associate the song with partying with friends.
This feeling was also replicated when in 2014 I ended up in a Helsinki karaoke bar with some friends, one of whom took a cheeky quick video of me performing what is now my Finnish karaoke staple.
So basically I just really love this song because it reminds me of good times.

 
 

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