Call for new songs for the 6th edition of minority language song contest Liet International in Ljouwert, The Netherlands

On Saturday October the 31st 2009 the Frisian capital of Ljouwert (Dutch: Leeuwarden) will host the sixth edition of the European minority language song contest Liet International, the one and only songcontest for singers and bands who sing in a European minority language. The organisation therefore calles upon bands, singers and cultural organisations throughout Europe to submit new songs in minority languages for the sixth edition of our songcontest. The song contest will consist of 10 to 11 singers or bands who represent European regions where a minority language is being spoken and sung. The song contest will take place in city theatre De Harmonie, one of the largest theatres of the Netherlands. Bands or artists are invited to send in newly composed music and lyrics in any of the lesser used, regional or minority languages in Europe until the 1st of May 2009. The organisation of Liet Lavlut will announce the selection of the songs for the final in June.  

In previous contests, we have had songs in languages such as Basque, Breton, Catalan, Cornish, Corsican, Frisian, Friulian, Gaelic, Galician, Manx, Mordvinian, Northfrisian, Occitan, Romani, Sámi, Sorbian, Votian and Welsh. The Sámi have won the festival the last three times, but the last edition in Luleå, in Swedish Lapland, was won by the Corsican singer Jacques Culioli.

Liet International, a Frisian initiative, collaborates closely with various other song contests in minority languages throughout Europe such as the Frisian songcontest Liet 2009, the Sámi Grand Prix in Kautokeino, Norway and last but not least Nos Ur, the first Celtic & Scottish songcontest in Inverness. The winners of these events automatically qualify for Liet International. Songs submitted to us in one of the languages of these songcontests will be immediately forwarded to our partners. This means e.g. that Liet International will forward a Breton entry to our Celtic partner Nos Ur. However, entries in other minority languages from France, such as Corsican and Occitan, are most welcome and will be considered seriously. We see the other songcontests as semi-finals of Liet International. 

All in all the semi-finals send 5 to 7 bands to Liet International. This means that we have 4 to 6 open places for bands who sing in other minority languages in Europe. The selection process is done by a small and completely independant selection jury in late May 2008. Qualification criteria for the committee are the following: quality and uniqueness of song and music, languistic, geographical and musical diversity, gender and age.

The lyrics and music should be new or newly written and composed, socalled traditionals are not accepted. Send your songs on a CD to the address below. A committee comprising musicians representing all partners of Liet International will select the 4-6 best songs to go forward to the song contest. Qualification criteria for the committee are the following: quality and uniqueness of song and music, language, geographical spread, gender and age.

The singers/groups chosen will be invited to take part in the contest. Liet International encourages participants to seek financial support for the travels expenses from the nation they represent. We take care of hotel and living expenses.

Two prizes are awarded: one voted for by the international jury and the other voted for by the public. The panel of judges comprises a representative from each participating region. It is also our intention to arrange a live broadcast on the radio and the internet, which offers listeners the possibility to vote by SMS-text or on the internet. Of course the audience in the concert hall will be also be able to vote.

Liet International will be registered for television.Liet International usually attracts a lot of media attention. 

Liet International is organised by Foundation Liet International in collaboration with its international partners Arlef (Udine, Italy), Nos Ur (Inverness, Scotland) and Sweblul (Stockholm, Sweden).

Liet International is supported and sponsored by e.g. the Provinsje Fryslân, the Municipality of Ljouwert/leeuwarden Luleå municipality as well as a number of other sponsors.

Please let us have your songs not later than May 1.

Send you songs on CD to Liet International in Ljouwert (Leeuwarden). For the submission of other details please use the form on our website http://www.liet.nl. We kindly ask you to approach our form with the explorer. Unfortunately our form does not work well with other browsers.

For more information and in case of queries, please send your questions to: 
submit@liet.nl

Adress to send a CD with the song you want to submit:
Liet International
c.o. Onno Falkena
Huzum Doarp 
NL 8934 BS LJOUWERT 
The Netherlands
e-mail: submit@liet.nl