Kaija Pohjola (born 26 September 1951 in Kuopio, Finland) is a Finnish singer. She first came to fame as a tango singer; now her repertoire includes evergreens and Finnish pop.
Kaija Pohjola says of her early life:
In her teens she took part in singing competitions. In 1968 she won competitions in Kausala and Kouvola. (Latva & Tuunainen, p 345)
In 1969 she won the Tähtijahti (starsearch) competition organised by a newspaper (the sources differ about the name of the paper: according to Nyman (p 74) it is Suosikki; Latva & Tuunainen (p 345) say Intro). Her song was Dong Hoin tyttö, composed by Juha Vainio, and is included in the LP Tähtijahti (Latva & Tuunainen, p 345). This number was reissued on the 2013 album, Tosirakkautta.
In the early 1970s she used the stage name Maarit, but reverted to her own name to avoid confusion with Maarit Hurmerinta, who also recorded under the name Maarit. (Latva & Tuunainen, p 345). About this time (the sources do not give an exact date) she got married and singing was put on hold in favour of raising a family.
In 1990 her children Petri and Paula had reached the ages of 12 and 9, and Kaija felt able to compete in the Tangomarkkinat. She became Tango Princess in spite of poor conditions in the competition hall:
"The evening of the finals was sweltering hot and inside the television lights brought the temperature to over 50 degrees. We sat in the front of the auditorium and awaited our turns. When I climbed on to the stage I was nearly passing out." (Nyland, p. 75)
The following year she tried again and became Tango Queen at the age of 40. In 1992 she took part in the Eurovision Song Contest selection programme with Rexi (real name Raimo Kero) with Rexi's own composition Ruskaa näin sinun silmissäs. There was strong competition from Arja Koriseva with Huomiseen and Sonja Lumme with Rakkauden bulevardi, but the song eventually chosen was the weak Yamma-yamma by Pave Maijanen, which came 23rd in the Eurovision itself. The winner was Linda Martin with Why Me?, composed by previous winner Johnny Logan under the name Séan Sherrard. (source:Latva & Tuunainen, pp 346, 368; Murtomäki, p 169)
Since 1991 she has appeared every year at the Tangomarkkinat, and in 2003 issued a DVD devoted entirely to tangos.