Takasa (formerly Heilsarmee) was a Swiss musical group that represented Switzerland in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the Europea ...

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden. The group consisted of six

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

soldiers A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word ...

Career

Eurovision Song Contest 2013

The band participated in the Swiss national final with the song " You and Me". They qualified to the national final through the online selection organized by SF. On 15 December 2012, they won the Swiss national final, therefore they represented Switzerland in the

. On 17 December 2012, the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

(EBU) announced that the band would not be permitted to compete under the name "Heilsarmee" (German for "Salvation Army") at the Eurovision Song Contest, in accordance with the rules of the contest forbidding political and religious content. In March 2013, the group announced that they would be known as "Takasa" for the contest; officially, the name was taken from the

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

verb "to purify", but it has been noted to be an acronym of "The Artists Known As Salvation Army" (an allusion to The Artist Formerly Known As Prince). This is also similar to the time when the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

toured under the name "Spots" (Sex Pistols On Tour, Secretly.) The members of the band have a major age difference, as the oldest member, bassist Emil Ramsauer, was 95 (born 1918), and their youngest member, singer Sarah Breiter, was 22 (born 1991), at the time of their Eurovision performance. The band also wore different outfits for Eurovision, barred from wearing Salvation Army uniforms by the same rules.

Subsequent career and dissolution

After their Eurovision appearance, the group performed only a few more times at local events in Switzerland. By 2015, according to Christoph Jakob, the group had ceased to exist, because the other professional responsibilities of its members made its continuance impractical. In 2018, Ramsauer became the first Eurovision artist to turn 100 years of age. Ramsauer's death was announced on 22 December 2021, at the age of 103.

Discography

Singles

References

External links

* * {{Authority control The Salvation Army 2012 establishments in Switzerland 2013 disestablishments in Switzerland Musical groups established in 2012 Musical groups disestablished in 2013 Eurovision Song Contest entrants