The group of contestants in Yle’s Contest for New Music UMK is shrinking by one: the band One Morning Left will no longer continue in the competition. Yle has excluded the band from the competition due to a contract violation. Yle and One Morning Left have discussed the matter and agree on the basis for the decision.
Finland’s largest music show, Contest for New Music UMK, will culminate on February 8 at Nokia Arena in Tampere, where six artists will take the stage this year. According to UMK rules, a new representative does not need to be added to replace the departing competitor.
UMK’s executive producer Anssi Autio comments:
”Unfortunately, One Morning Left will not be seen in this year’s UMK, as the band has not fully complied with the competition’s rules. The decision also involved the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, set by the EBU, which clearly state that such a rule violation is an unequivocal obstacle to Eurovision representation.”
UMK25 event and show: February 8, 2025 at Nokia Arena, Tampere
The winner of UMK, and Finland’s next Eurovision representative will be selected at the grand UMK25 event and show at the Tampere Nokia Arena on February 8, 2025. The show can be followed internationally with English commentary via Yle’s streaming service Yle Areena starting at 8pm CET.
The band commented on the situation in their statement on Instagram:
It has come to our attention, that serious accusations have been brought against a member of our band anonymously on social media. According to the accusations, Mika Lahti would have allegedly been messaging with a possibly underage person on IRC-Galleria (Finnish social media site between 2007-2010 with or without knowing this.
These accusations have been a total surprise to all members of the band, to UMK, to YLE and to all business partners and companies who worked with the band. These allegations are not directed to any other current members, and are unambiguously about Mika Lahti.
The other band members; Leevi, Juuso, Miska and Dennis have left the band with immediate effect and have expressed great shock at th”ese accusations. The other members of the band as well as associates of the band fully seperate themselves from these accusations. These accusations in no way represent the values of the rest of the members in the band or the band’s associates.
In the light of this information, One Morning Left won’t continue competing in UMK and withdraws from the contest immediately. Simultaneously, all activity of the band will terminate immediately and the One Morning Left Limited Company will seize it’s operation with immediate effect.
Mika Lahti denies these accusations. He is also prepared to make a police report of false accusations.
We apologise to UMK, to other artists, to YLE, to our audience, and to our business partners for the harm caused. The other members of the band would have never joined the band, if they had known of any possible inappropriate behaviour.
We ask that the media or the audience won’t contact us regarding this matter. We also wish that the UMK team gets to work in peace.
We won’t be giving any further comments.
About Post Author
