Sandhja – “Sing it Away”: How Her Performance Connects to Finland’s National Identity

 Blog 1 Recap 

In my previous blog, I investigated the meaning of national identity and how Finland defines theirs. I discovered that Finland identifies themselves through language and religion. They very much take pride in their Finnish language as they historically struggled to make their official language. Since at the time, before both were deemed official languages, Finnish books were banned, and the Swedish ones were the main published language. It was suggested that the Swedish language and culture were a vital part of the Swedish heritage in Finland and should not be dismissed in favor of the ‘rustic’ Finnish culture (Herb, 1999). As I mentioned in my first blog, Sweden had played a massive role in influencing Finnish culture, but so did the Russians. In the present day, Finland has a rough relationship with Russia after joining NATO. Finland joined NATO after Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the relationship between Finland and Russia has deteriorated, and Russia feels as if they were betrayed and lost a “comrade” to NATO. 

Representation in Eurovision 

The Eurovision song contest is a way for European (and some non-European) countries to share and represent their cultures through a singing competition. This can be done in many ways throughout their performances. In the past, many artists have represented their country through either the visuals of their performance with LEDs to project images or lighting itself. The representation of their culture can also be conveyed through the singer’s costumes or choreography. Every aspect of the performance has a meaning behind it, down to the costume and accessories along with the other performers on the stage with the singer. Not only that, but lyrics can also play a huge role in the performance to convey a message to the audience. Everything on the stage has meaning, and many people can interpret it differently, whether it’s to their taste or not. 

Sandhja’s Background  

The purpose of this blog is to analyze Finland’s 2016 Eurovision entry, “Sing it Away” by Sandhja and understand how her performance may or may not connect with Finland’s national identity. The 2016 Eurovision Song contest was held in Stockholm, Sweden, following the 2015 song contest with the song “Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw. Finland’s chosen 2016 performer, Sandhja, came to represent Finland after winning the national final of Finland for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, UMK (Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu). Sandhja was born in the capital of Finland, Helsinki, to a Finnish father and Indo-Guyanese mother. Her great-great grandmother was also a singer and entertainer in her home village. She speaks both Finnish and English but chooses to only sings in English. It spoke in an interview that English is her “emotional language” because it is the language she speaks in with her mother (Sandhja (Finland) Press Conference, 2016). When asked if she would ever sing or release any songs in Finnish, she replied saying she’ll never sing in Finnish. The singer had been creating music professionally since she was 18. She released her first album in May of 2014, “Gold,” when she was 23. Besides being a self-taught singer song writer, she is also a nurse and won some medals in kickboxing. Not only that, but she is also an educator on racism and anti-discrimination in the workforce. She supports women’s sexual and human rights.  

Analyzing Sandhja’s “Sing it Away” Performance  

Sandhja performs this song with lots of power and passion. This can be seen through her facial expressions and her highly energetic stage presence. She wore a turquoise reindeer suede jumpsuit made by a man from Lapland, along with some silver jewelry and Minna Parikka shoes with bunny ears. “There’s a little playfulness in the show” (Sandhja (Finland) Press Conference, 2016). Her backup singers are wearing all black outfits along with some turquoise accessories. Some are wearing turquoise necklaces or bracelets, but some of them are wearing long dangling earrings with turquoise ribbon attached to them. Her backup singers, the Akkabellas, were all wearing the same shoes made from a Finnish designer. In May 2018, Retta Korhonen, one of the backup singers, posted an Instagram throwback post of her and the other backup singers behind the scenes in their dressing room. Retta commented on the shoes saying that “[they] were awful” (Korhonen, 2018). They had to use elastics to keep the shoes from slipping off, but some of the elastics broke so they resorted to stuffing their shoes with tissues or paper. Additionally, the shoes did not work for them on stage. The stage was made of LEDs that were not stable and bounced when too much pressure was applied. “It felt like running on a moss field with tiles on your feet” (Korhonen, 2018). The performance's visuals projected on the LED screens were dark blue liquid splashing and blue, purple, and pink geometric patterns. In the beginning of the performance, we meet face-to-face with Sandhja as she opens the song with a somber beat. Even though it is a somber beat, she sings with an encouraging and uplifting tone. Almost as if she’s saying, “everything is going to be alright.” When the chorus kicks in the beat of the song picks up and the backup singers powerfully strut their way on stage. All of the backup singers match Sandhja’s powerful and high energy. Every time the backup singers sing “Ooh, ooh, ooh, oh,” they all break into dance. There is so much movement and jam and rarely any stillness throughout the performance. At one point, the Akkabellas make hand gestures as if they are shaking something away and off their bodies. Sandhja is always surrounded by her singers, until she walks down the catwalk and does a short solo part on a smaller platform. After that, she comes back to her singers, and they all dance together. The singers always look so powerful and encouraging as they sing together in unison. How do all of these aspects of Sandhja’s performance connect to Finnish Identity?  

Meaning Behind the Song & Connection to Finnish Identity     

    Sandhja’s song, “Sing it Away,” is about forgetting and shaking off arguments by simply “singing away” these feelings and experiences (Otto, 2016) The song literally means to sing away all the pain and struggles you are going through. Not only does she do this by singing in her performance, but also “dances it away.” "I want my music to be a source of happiness and joy, but also a reflection of deep suffering. I hope that when people listen to my music, they can forget their worries and face their feelings." (Otto, 2016). The song was inspired by her great-great grandmother who was also a singer. Her grandmother lived a difficult life while working on the sugarcane farms while also raising eleven children. She would wear jingles on her wrist and ankles and danced her pain and hardships away (Sandhja (Finland) Press Conference, 2016). Sandhja believes that is also the point of her singing and dancing as well (Sandhja (Finland) Press Conference, 2016).

    Sandhja’s costume itself represented Finnish culture while also showcasing girl power. Her costume was made us of reindeer suede by a man from Lapland. Lapland was home to the original people of Finland, the Saami people. Reindeer are an integral part of Lapland culture. The Saami people used reindeer as a source of food, clothing and shelter (Pekantytar, 2023). The reindeer is a representation of the Saami people and is one of the most sacred animals in Saami culture. Sandhja’s shoes were Minna Parkka shoes, which is a woman-owned brand. Through her brand and designs, Parkka allows all women to express their true selves and to build empowerment from the ground up.  

While her costume had meaning behind and purpose, so did the LED visuals. According to Vainio (2016) Finland belongs to a feminine culture along with other Nordic countries, which value human well-being, modesty and the environment. Sandhja represents Finland through her use of color choice in the LED visuals. Finland is known as “the country of thousands of lakes and forests.” In the LED visual we can see some sort of dark water or liquid splashing in the background, then again this could be connected to her line “When heavy waters try to break you” (3). Nonetheless, the relation with water is present in the song. Not only that but the color choices of the LEDs can also play a role. Colors can mean different things to different countries and cultures. In the Finnish culture, they associate blue as contentment and pride and turquoise with relief. Finns take pride in their national identity through their country’s color and land.  

One thing that may upset Finns may be the fact that Sandhja sang her song in English and not Finnish. As I mentioned before, Finns take pride in their language. Finland has only ever won one Eurovision Song Contest which was in 2006 by Lordi. He sang his song in English and got some backlash from Finns as they were disappointed in him not singing in Finnish, the same goes for Sandhja. For her, it’s a personal choice to sing in English.  

 

Closing 

Sandhja’s performance encourages those who are struggling to stay strong to “sing” and “dance” away their pain and stress. The inspiration of her song came from her great-great grandmother who did the same thing while she was facing hardships. Her performance also encourages women empowerment with and all female backup vocalists and powerful stage presence. She represents her Finnish roots through her clothing and visuals. Even though she represents her Finnish side, she sings in her “emotional language,” English, to also represent her mother’s roots.

References  

  

Järveläinen, S. (2016, May 10). Keitä ovat Sandhjan Akkabellas-taustalaulajat? Retrieved from https://yle.fi/aihe/artikkeli/2016/05/10/keita-ovat-sandhjan-akkabellas-taustalaulajat 

Otto, K. (2016, May 11). Finnland: Sandhja - "Sing It Away" [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.eurovision.de/teilnehmer/Sandhja-startet-beim-ESC-2016-fuer-Finnland,finnland462.html 

Pekantytar, N. (2023, September 18). Reindeer and myths from Lapland. Owlcation. Retrieved from https://owlcation.com 

Eurovision Song Contest. (2016, May 6). Sandhja (Finland) press conference [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BV8SDXujOw 

Sandhja. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/sandhja 

Sandhja to represent Finland in 2016! (2022, June 24). Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/story/sandhja-to-represent-finland-in-2016 

Vainio, S. (2016). (thesis). A cross-cultural comparison of colour-emotion associations of Finland, Norway, China and Greece. Retrieved from                                                                                    https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/api/core/bitstreams/25634f88-0e6b-40ce-a77e-        99886d257c40/content