Finland: Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen win UMK 2026 with "Liekinheitin"
Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen have won Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2026 tonight with their song "Liekinheitin"
Tonight, the Finnish national selection UMK 2026 took place in Tampere. The line-up consisted of seven artists.
At the end of an amazing night, Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen emerged as the winner with their song "Liekinheitin".
"Liekinheitin" was written by Antti Riihimäki, Lauri Halavaara, Linda Lampenius, Pete Parkkonen, and Vilma Alina Lähteenmäki.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2026
Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen
Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen are a duo both from Finland.
Linda Lampenius, 56 (also internationally known as Linda Brava) began playing violin at an early age and joined the Helsinki Junior Strings at eight, touring North America, Europe and Asia as a teenager.
Her classical solo album released by EMI Classics made her one of Finland’s best-selling classical artists, and her career has spanned genres from classical to pop and crossover music.
Pete Eemeli Parkkonen, 36, first gained national attention as a contestant on Idols Finland in 2008, where he finished third, and soon after released his debut album The First Album, which reached number 1 on the Finnish Albums Chart.
He has since released several albums and singles in Finnish, toured extensively across clubs and festivals in Finland, and won Dancing with the Stars Finland in 2014.
Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2026
The winner of the Contest for New Music was chosen on 28 February at the UMK 2026, held at the Nokia Arena in Tampere. The Final was broadcast for international audiences from Yle Areena starting at 20:00 CET. The broadcast also included English-language commentary. Voting to determine the winner was made up of 25% jury vote and 75% public vote.
The hosts of UMK 2026 were Sami Sykkö, Jorma Uotinen and Jasmin Beloued.
Finland in Eurovision
Finland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961, and has participated ever since, except six years, mostly because of previous years' poor results.
The Finnish have won the competition once, in 2006, with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah," performed by Lordi. Since then, Finland's best result is a 2nd place finish in 2023.
Since the introduction of the Semi-finals in 2004, Finland has qualified for the Grand Final 13 out of 21 times.
