Since the
end of December The
Voice of Finland is searching for the best singer in the country. Those who
haven’t seen the show so far will say: “What? Isn’t that just another stupid
casting show? Aren’t they all the same?” But The
Voice of Finland is actually really something else.
I met one
of the candidates, Jesse Kaikuranta, in Helsinki. He explained that the concept comes from the
Netherlands and has been running successfully in several European countries
already. In four teams, each tutored by a famous Finnish singer (Elastinen,
Lauri Tähkä, Michael Monroe and Paula Koivuniemi), the candidates
compete against each other. Still the atmosphere within the teams is good, the candidates
can choose to sing what they want and what is most important, the heads of the
teams are really supportive. Also within the shows the critic is always constructive
– in contrast to known formats e.g. Idols or X-Factor.
There seems to be something special about the version from Finland. Jesse
told me, that even the creators from the Netherlands where surprised about the high
quality the singers in Finland brought to the stage. Well, Jesse himself also amazed
with great performance. One of the highlights of the show so far was his duet
with Juho Räisänen singing Minä ja hän.
Try watching it without getting chills.
You can find more great performances on their website. Check out e.g. Saara Aalto, Mikko Herranen and all the other extraordinary singers.
The show airs every Friday at 8 p.m. on Nelonen (channel 4). Enjoy!