Liet-Lávlut

Liet International (Frisian: Liet Ynternasjonaal), formerly Liet-Lávlut, is a song contest for musicians who speak any of Europe's regional or minority languages that was held the first time in Friesland in 2002. The goal of the festival is to boost interest in Europe's minority languages, especially with young people.

Liet International began in 2002 as a spinoff of the Frisian-language song contest Liet (Frisian for "song"), held annually in Leeuwarden/Ljouwert since 1991. The first three editions of Liet International likewise took place in Leeuwarden. Since 2006 it has been held in a different city each year. The 2006 and 2008 contests, held in the Swedish Sápmi, were titled Liet-Lávlut (lávlut is Northern Sami for "sing").

Since 2008 Liet International has been organized under the patronage of the Council of Europe.

Contests were cancelled in 2007 and 2013 when the hosting organizations, in Narbonne and Corsica respectively, backed out at a late stage. No Liet International was held in 2015.

Qualification

The winners of certain song contests for particular languages or groups of languages automatically qualify as entrants for Liet International. These contests thus function as selection rounds for the international contest. They have included:

• Liet (Frisian)
• Premiu al Meyor Cantar (Asturian)
• Sámi Grand Prix (Sámi)
• SUNS (minority languages of Italy and the Alpine region)
• Laulun Laulut (minority languages of the Nordic and Baltic regions, 2007)
• Nós Úr (Celtic languages and Scots, 2008-2009)
• Liet Corsica (Corsican, 2012)

Additional entrants are chosen from applying artists by a selection committee.

Liet Ynternasjonaal 2002

The first Liet International song contest was held on April 28, 2002 at the De Harmonie theatre in Leeuwarden/Ljouwert, Friesland, the Netherlands. The West Frisian-language Liet contest was held on the previous night, and in a pattern that would be repeated in future editions the winner of Liet went on to represent Friesland in the international contest. However in later years Liet International would be held some months after Liet.

Both the jury and public awards were won by the Catalan band Pomada for their song "En Pere Galleri".

Liet Ynternasjonaal 2003

The second Liet International contest was again held at the De Harmonie theatre in Leeuwarden, on November 23, 2003.

Transjoik, a Sámi group from Norway, won the jury award with their song "Mijjajaa". The public award was won by Welsh/Cornish singer Gwenno for her song in Cornish, "Vodya".

Liet Ynternasjonaal 2004

The third edition of the contest was held on the 22nd of October, 2004. The venue was once again the De Harmonie theatre in Leeuwarden. Sámi singer Niko Valkeapää won both the jury and the public award with his song "Rabas mielain". This was the second time in a row that the contest was won by the Sámi entry.

Liet-Lávlut 2006

Since the Sámi had won two out of the three competitions, the festival was held in Östersund, Sweden, which is the southern reaches of the area, Sápmi, that the Sámi live in the Nordic Countries. Sixty competitors, singing in 25 minority languages, took part in the preliminary elimination round. Eleven songs, representing 11 languages, were selected for the final competition.

Although the winner was selected by the festival's jury, the audience could vote for their favorite artist at the festival, on the Internet and by SMS message. The Sámi duo of Johan Kitti from Sweden and Ellen Sara Bæhr from Norway won the competition with "Luđiin muitalan", sung in Northern Sámi. The audience favorite was Liza Pannetier, with her song in Occitan, "Soleu Rouge".

Liet-Lávlut 2008

The competition took place on 18 October at Kulturens hus in Luleå/Luleju, Sweden. Corsican singer Jacques Culioli won both the jury's and public's awards.

Liet International 2009

In January the Board of the Liet Foundation decided to continue under the name Liet International. The 6th competition was held on 31 October 2009, returning to the De Harmonie theater in Leeuwarden.

The Finnish Sámi rock band Somby won the competition with their song "Ii iđit vel", sung in Northern Sámi. The audience favorite was Dr. Drer en Cre Posse from Sardinia, with their song "Apu biu".^[1]

• ^ Also known as "Ii iđida".

Liet International 2010

In 2010 Liet International was held in the Breton city of Lorient/An Oriant in France. The contest was won by the band Orka of the Faroe Islands with their song "Rúmdardrongurin". The public award went to the Friulian band R.esistence in Dub and their song "Fieste".

Liet International 2011

The eighth Liet International was held on November 19, 2011 at the Teatro Giovanni da Udine in Udine/Udin, the historical capital of the Italian region of Friûl.

The Frisian singer Janna Eijer (22) from Jobbegea won the jury prize with her song "Ien klap", while the band Coffeeshock Company from Austria won the public vote with "Gusla mi se je znicila", sung in Burgenland Croatian.

• *^ Misidentified as "Emeze" on the Liet International website etc. "Emeźe" is a different song by the same group.

Liet International 2012

The ninth edition of Liet International was held in Gijón/Xixón, Asturias, Spain, at the Teatru de la Llaboral, on December 1, 2012. Welsh-born Breton singer Lleuwen won the jury prize for her song "Ar Gouloù Bev", while the public prize went to Asturiana Mining Company with "Si nun conoces Vaḷḷouta".

Liet International 2014

The 2014 contest was held in Oldenburg, Germany. 19-year-old musician Martina Iori, from Val di Fassa in the north of Italy, won the jury award for her song "Via con mia mùsega", sung in Ladin.

In this year the audience award was replaced by a musicians' award voted on by the contestants themselves. This was won by Aila-Duo from Finland and their song in Aanaar Sámi "Naharij kandâ".

Liet International 2016

The 11th Liet International song contest is scheduled to be held in late 2016 in Kautokeino/Guovdageaidnu, Norway, the home of the Sámi Grand Prix.^[2]

References

External links

• Official Site