Music is a universal language that we all understand, they say. With her melodies and sound patterns, she can speak directly to the heart and brain. This applies to purely instrumental pieces, but also to songs, arias or pop songs, the lyrics of which do not always have to be understood correctly. Pavarotti, the Beatles, Prince or Edith Piaf unfold their artistic charisma independently of this. There is little that is more connecting than singing and making music together. At the beginning of the pandemic, during the first lockdowns, “balcony singing” in Italy produced particularly touching moments and was quickly imitated in other European countries.
Andreas Wimmer, the church musician of Sankt Birgitta in Unterhaching, coordinates the participation.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Unterhaching’s French partner community Le Vésinet has now initiated a kind of “Grand Prix de la Chanson” at the municipal level – and is organizing it together with its partner communities as the international singing competition “Mondiovesinion 2022”. Unterhaching is also at the start and calls on all passionate singers from the community and the Haching valley to take part. Andreas Wimmer, church musician of the Sankt Birgitta parish, coordinates participation in the contest for the Unterhaching town twinning group. “Anyone who likes to sing and is at least 15 years old can take part,” explains Wimmer.
Soloists, duos and trios are permitted. Own compositions are allowed as well as cover songs. There are also no stylistic specifications, whether jazz, rock, bel canto, three-voice vocals, pop or classical – the participants can prove themselves in all possible genres. But “there’s one thing you need to know,” as emphasized in the press release from the town partnership group: “Only the singing is judged, even if instruments are used in the performance.” So it’s about the human voice as the most beautiful and versatile instrument of all.
Six municipalities from six countries will take part in the competition
All participants should produce their own two-minute video for the competition. The closing date for the campaign is March 13th. A twelve-member jury from the six countries will then grade the songs – in addition to Unterhaching and Le Vésinet, Oakwood in the USA, Worcester in Great Britain, Villanueva de la Cañada in Spain and Hunter’s Hill in Australia will also send singers into the race. The winners from the individual partner communities will be announced in April. They then have their big performance on June 26th at the Fêtes de la Marguerite in Le Vésinet, a municipality almost 20 kilometers west of Paris. There the participants will present the colors of their country in a concert with their winning song. The organizers of the twinning committee in Le Vèsinet explain that the aim of the competition is “to discover artists from different countries and to share beautiful moments”.
The registration form and the conditions of participation can be found on the website of the town twinning group www.staepa-uhg.de be downloaded. The participants send their registration to the email address [email protected] and a copy to [email protected]. The link to the two-minute video must be sent to the same e-mail addresses, which must first be uploaded to the “We Transfer” platform. Questions can be sent to Andreas Wimmer by email.