Finland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 with the song "Nauravat silmät muistetaan", composed by Pepe Willberg, with lyrics by Kirsti Willberg, and performed by the band Boulevard. The Finnish participating broadcaster, Yleisradio (Yle), selected its entry in the contest through a national final. Boulevard had previously represented Finland in 1987 along Vicky Rosti.
Before Eurovision
National final
Yleisradio (Yle) held the national final on 13 February 1988 at the Kulttuuritalo in Helsinki, hosted by Sini Sovijärvi. Twelve songs took part with the winner chosen by voting from six regional juries. Other participants included former Finnish representatives Ami Aspelund (1983) and Sonja Lumme (1985). Two of the songs, Helena Miller's "Svart och vitt" and Benny Törnroos's "I november", were written in Swedish, which is a national language in Finland as well. The other 10 songs were written in Finnish.[1]
On the night of the final Boulevard performed third in the running order, following Sweden and preceding the United Kingdom. The band had to deal with a technical malfunction when the backing track temporarily faded out halfway through the song. At the close of voting "Nauravat silmät muistetaan" had received only 3 points, placing Finland 20th of the 21 entries, ahead only of the nul-points song from Austria.[2] The Finnish jury awarded its 12 points to Luxembourg.[3] Among the members of the Finnish jury was Ilpo Hakasalo.[4]
