Wednesday, 9 July 2014

200+ entries received for a new national anthem

I have entered a competition to find a new Swiss national anthem! More than 200 songwriters have entered the contest to change Switzerland's national anthem which organisers say is currently a little too religious for a secular society.

The song has only been the country's official anthem since 1981 when it replaced another sung to the tune of Britain's "God Save The Queen" which understandably caused some confusion.

A total of 129 entries were received in German and 69 in its second tongue, French. Italian-speakers submitted seven, while 10 were written in the country's fourth official langue Rumantsch.

A jury made up of politicians, musicians, journalists and members of yodel clubs, choirs and sports associations will pick the 10 best entries, which will be posted online next year for the public to choose the top three, which will be performed at a national music festival in September 2015, when spectators and television viewers will vote for a winner.

This is the kind of project I love. I mixed my writing skills with my love of playing piano, singing and dabbling with GarageBand on the Mac. I submitted my entry in French as I have a greater knowledge of this than German, having worked in the Correze for 6 months as a teenager. I’ll let you know if I make it to the top 10!

www.chymne.ch/de

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