Norma - Pikku Nina

Kari Kuuva (see previous entry) wrote himself nearly all of the songs he recorded. One of the rare covers that he did, in the beginning of his career in the 60's, was "Pikku Nina" (Tiny Nina) in 1965. It was the follow-up to his big break-through single "Tango Pelargonia". The tongue-in-cheek approach is not so eminent as in it's predecessor, but anyway, a subtle pastiche it is. The original tune was originally written by a Chilean composer Sergio Fernandez Garay. The original title was "Norma" (also frequently called "Norma Mia") and it was covered in many countries and in many languages. Most likely the version that Kari covered was done by an Italian singer Tony Dallara (b. Antonio Lardera). All in all, he's famous for two songs only; his 1958 hit "Come Prima", and the 1960 Sanremo Festival winner "Romantica". Both were international hits. This "Norma" was on the B-side of his 1963 single. BTW, our earlier finnpicked (here) Turkish lady Ajda Pekkan did an interesting Turkish version of this song in 1964 (when she was only 18). See and hear it here.