The most accomplished musical artists, productions and music industry professionals were recognised Saturday evening at Finland’s annual music awards ceremony, the Emma gala. Comparable to the US Grammys or the BRIT Awards in the UK, the Emma gala is arranged each year by Finland’s branch of the IFPI music producers association.
The queen of the evening at the 31st Emma gala was singer-songwriter Paula Vesala, who currently goes by the artist name of Vesala. She was nominated in seven categories and won four awards, including best pop artist, best pop album “Vesala”, best song of the year “Tequila” and best female artist.
Vesala is an accomplished Finnish singer-songwriter, and she has also worked as an actress and playwright. After years as part of the successful pop rock duo PMMP, with Mira Luoti, she started a solo career in 2015. She is a prolific composer and lyricist, having written many songs for other well-known Finnish artists such as Vesa-Matti Loiri, Jenni Vartiainen, and Antti Tuisku.
She won three Emmas in 2010 for her work in PMMP.
JVG and Alma also winners
The rap group JVG, the duo of Jare Joakim Brand and Ville-Petteri Galle, also won three Emmas on Saturday: band of the year, hip hop artist of the year and best domestic streamed song of the year. Their song “Hehkuu” has been streamed over 12 million times.
Singer Alma (Alma-Sofia Miettinen) won an award for newcomer of the year and best export artist.
Rapper Mikael Gabriel won best male artist and pop star Antti Tuisku won an Emma for best live performer.
The top-selling album in 2016 was a compilation album from the fifth season of the popular Finnish version of the Best Singer television series, Vain Elämää, which featured Gabriel, among others.