After an exciting Melodifestivalen Grand Final, KAJ’s ‘Bara Bada Bastu’ won through, and a Eurovision Song Contest appearance would be the next step in KAJ’s success. By the end of March, they had reached Number One in both the Swedish and Finnish Spotify charts, as well as topping Spotify’s Global Viral chart in many other countries.
Who Are KAJ?
KAJ are Kevin Holmström, Axel Åhman, and Jakob Norrgård; who are all Swedish-speaking Finns – a minority that makes up around five percent of the population. They come from a smallish municipality of Vörå (Vöyri in Finnish) on the inland western coast area—one of the core Swedish-speaking areas together with the Helsinki area, the Turku archipelago, and the totally Swedish speaking Åland Islands. They are famous for using the local Vörå dialect in their lyrics. ‘Bara Bada Bastu’ is written in this dialect.
They did not come out of nowhere; since they started as school friends in 2009 they have performed locally in the Vaasa area, even producing two musicals at Wasa Theatre: ‘Gambämark’ (2018) and ‘Botnia Paradise’ (2021).
They even had a show in the Swedish-speaking section of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, namely ‘Nästan Unplugged’ in 2018. They have also won prizes: In 2013, KAJ were awarded the inaugural Leif Sjöström prize by Harry Schaumans Stiftelse in memory of the famous cartoonist, and in 2015, KAJ was named the Honorable Ostrobothnians of the Year.
The Impact Of KAJ’s
The cultural importance of ‘Bara Bada Bastu’ in Sweden is evident: this will be the first time since 1998–when the requirement to sing in a country’s official language was dropped—that Sweden will perform a song in Swedish.
Its importance in Finland is even greater. Since becoming a considerable political force, the right-wing populist True Finns party has fought to abolish obligatory Swedish lessons in schools for Finnish-speaking Finns. However, suddenly, a band has joined both the Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking Finns by winning Melodiefestivalen and doing so with a song about one of the most important cultural phenomena in Finland, the sauna. The song also incorporates a few words in Finnish, most notably “yksi, kaksi, kolme, sauna” (“one, two, three, sauna”) that toddlers all around Finland are singing now.
In social media, some Finnish-speaking Finns looking at the back catalogue of KAJ on YouTube have been wondering why they have not heard of KAJ before; so good is the reimagining of the opera number ‘Nessun Dorma’ in ‘Nissan Bromsa’ or their video for their single ‘Taco hej (me gusta).’
The Swedish Finnish culture is thought to be snobbish and upper class among the Finnish-speaking majority. The knowledge of the culture of the Swedish-speaking minority is often restricted to ‘The Moomins‘ by Tove Jansson.
Suddenly, having something really wholesome seems to be a game changer.
Ahead of the Melodifestivaen Grand Final, the main Swedish-speaking newspaper marvelled at how the simple place in MelFest changed the perception of the Swedish-speaking culture in one night. This is something that the Swedish-speaking politicians could have only dreamt of. The effect KAJ has had in Finland has also been picked up by one of the main Swedish newspapers, Dagens Nyheter.
Many Finnish-speaking people are openly interested in studying Swedish now. Will this goodwill continue? The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE broadcast live the winners’ welcome party from Vörå on March 10, when 5,000 happy listeners enjoyed KAJ on stage in a free concert at the local school sports field. This concert was beamed around the globe, and I followed it here in England.
The excitement and happiness of the success is there.
Building On Success
KAJ have already found success. They just announced a summer tour across Sweden and Finland, and are gigging in the biggest Finnish summer festivals, and their name has been leading the promotion of Turku’s Ruisrock. Adding a Eurovision Song Contest win is not out of the question.