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Arja Saijonmaa
Arja Saijonmaa at Guldbaggegalan 2013.
Background information
Birth nameArja Enni Helena Saijonmaa
Born (1944-12-01) 1 December 1944 (age 79)
Mikkeli, Finland[1]
GenresPop, Schlager
Occupation(s)singer

Arja Enni Helena Saijonmaa (born 1 December 1944) is a Finnish singer, political activist and occasional actress.[2]

Life and career

She studied at the Sibelius Academy and earned a Bachelor of Arts at the Helsinki University. She made her breakthrough as a singer in Sweden. She has made albums with Swedish translations of songs by Mikis Theodorakis, as well as covers of Zarah Leander songs.

In 1978 she issued Miten voi kyllin kiittää, an album of Finnish translations of the songs of the Chilean composer and singer Violeta Parra. A Swedish version, Jag vill tacka livet, came out the following year. The title song, "Jag vill tacka livet" ("Gracias a la vida") was one of her greatest hits. Swedish prime minister Olof Palme had been a close friend, and his widow wanted Arja to sing at the funeral in 1986. She sang Ine Megalos O Kaimos in Swedish. In 1987, she participated at Melodifestivalen with the song "Högt över havet", ending up second. The same year, she scored a Svensktoppen hit with the song Jag vill leva i Europa.[3]

As a politician, she has been a member of the Swedish People's Party in Finland, and in 1987 she was appointed UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. She has written a Norwegian-language book, Sauna, about the Finnish sauna tradition.

She appeared in the first season of Let's Dance, the Swedish version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006. Her professional partner was Tobias Karlsson, aged 28, and they were eliminated in the 7th week. In December 2007, Saijonmaa participated in the Swedish reality show Stjärnorna på slottet along with Peter Stormare, Britt Ekland, Jan Malmsjö and Magnus Härenstam.

She participated in Melodifestivalen 2019 with the song "Mina fyra årstider".[4]

Saijonmaa is both the Finnish and Swedish voice actor of Emma the Stage Rat in the Finnish-British animated television family drama Moominvalley (2019–).[5]

Discography

Finnish language

Reissues

Swedish language

Reissues

Other languages

Title Year Peak chart positions Album
SWEHeat.[6]
"Mina fyra årstider" 2019 7 Non-album single

Films

Arja Saijonmaa has appeared in the following films:

Bibliography

Swedish language

References

  1. ^ "Official website". saijonmaa.com (in Swedish). Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. ^ Arja Saijonmaa, Harmony Ridge Music, accessed 2010-05-30 Archived 2 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Svensktoppen – 1987". Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. ^ Dahlander, Gustav (27 November 2018). "Artisterna i Melodifestivalen 2019: Hela listan – så blir deltävlingarna". Gustavs expertblogg (in Swedish). SVT. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Voice cast", gutsy.fi
  6. ^ "Veckolista Heatseeker – Vecka 11, 15 mars 2019". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 16 March 2019.

Sources

Tony Latva and Petri Tuunainen, Iskelmän tähtitaivas, WSOY 2004, ISBN 951-0-27817-3
M.A. Numminen, Tango on intohimoni, Schilds 1998, ISBN 951-50-0918-9

External links

Media related to Arja Saijonmaa at Wikimedia Commons

Preceded by DeeDee(Retrospective) OGAE Second Chance Contest winner 1987 Succeeded by Lena Philipsson
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