Sweden turns up Eurovision heat with wacky sauna song by KAJ

Sweden is getting up a head of steam for what could be a record number of Eurovisions this year with a humor-steaming act.

- CAMILLE BAS-WOHLERT AFP

“KAJ, a comedy group more accus-tomed to playing birthday parties than large arena shows, is already the book-ies’ favourite to triumph at the extrav-aganza in Malmo, Sweden, on May 11. With their song Bara Bada Bastu (Just Have A Sauna), the Finnish trio pay homage to sauna culture, clad in trunks and accompanied by an accordion in a wink to Finland’s other big cultural phenomenon, the tango.

Dancers in lumberjack shirts grill sausages over a bonfire before appear-ing in a sauna with towels around their waists, slapping their backs with birch branches.

“We’re gonna have a sauna, sauna, steam up and let go of the stress of the day,” they sing repeatedly in Swedish, in a story that sticks to the brain like chewing gum to the sole of a shoe.

“The melody works internationally. Even I am able to hum the chorus, and I absolutely do not speak the language” laughed Rasmus Ramstad, a French Eurovision expert and journalist.

The Swedish public chose the song at its annual Melodifestivalen contest -- a national institution broadcast five Saturday evenings in a row that attracts millions of viewers.