From 1 February 2022 there are no longer COVID-19 restrictions in Denmark. Therefor the host of Liet International 2022, the umbrella organisation of the German minority, Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger (BDN) in cooperation with the foundation of Liet International have decided to definitely organise Liet International 2022 on 13 May 2022 in Tondern/Tønder, in the south of Denmark. Local host Uffe Iwersen says “We as German minority in Denmark are very proud to host LIET International 2022 in Tønder/Tondern. The German-Danish border region is one of the most diverse regions in Europe in terms of language and culture. It’s the perfect place to celebrate European diversity.”
28 songs were submitted for Liet International 2022. A selection jury consisting of Nick Veenstra (The Netherlands), chairman of the jury at Frisian song festival Liet 2021, Laura Fosten (United Kingdom), member of the Cornish band The Rowan Tree, winner of Liet International 2018, and Uffe Iwersen (Denmark), culture consultant at Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger, the organisers of Liet International 2022, had the hard task to make a selection. Besides their selection, some musicians from the region are invited directly by de organisation.
The line-up is very divers again. Both in different regional and minority languages and in music styles. The 13 participants are, in alphabetical order:
| Band | Song | Language |
| Adri de Boer | Bliuw mar by my | Frisian (The Netherlands) |
| Brother Sea | Trodhydhyek | Cornish (United Kingdom) |
| Carolina Rubirosa | O teu camiñar | Galician (Spain) |
| Die Tüdelband | Wenn ik enen Wunsch harr | Low German (Germany) |
| Doria | ROMA | Corsican (France) |
| Emanuele Pintus | Genia | Sardinian (Italy) |
| Jimi Henndreck | Heihupfa | Südtirolian (Italy) |
| Juna | Takhetle konem | Tatar (Tatarstan) |
| Martin Hørløck | Æ Nordschleswig-Lied | Synnejysk/German (Denmark) |
| Martje Johannsen & Christoph Hansen | Maleen | North Frisian (Germany) |
| Roger Argemí | La contradicció | Catalan (Spain) |
| Yourdaughters | Hudsult | Danish (Germany) |
| * | Samí (Finland/Norway) |
* The winner of the Sámi Grand Prix 2022 will represent the Sami, this festival is to be held on 16 April 2022.
The song festival for regional and minority languages Liet International is a Frisian (north of the Netherlands) initiative and was organised for the first time in the capital of Friesland, Ljouwert/Leeuwarden in 2002. Since 2006, the festival travels around Europe and since 2008, under the patronage of the Council of Europe. Liet International attracts each year a lot of media-attention – from BBC to Al Jazeera – and grew to one of the biggest events for the promotion of minority languages. The international songfestival is organised every two years. In 2018, the latest edition of Liet International took place in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden in the north of the Netherlands. The edition of 2020, to be held in Aabenraa/Åbenrå, was cancelled due to the corona pandemic. More information on Liet International you can find here: https://liet-international.com/
North of the Danish-German border in the region North of Schleswig live approx. 15.000 people who belong to the German minority. The German minority maintains its own schools and a wide spectrum of social and cultural institutions and serves as a vital bridge between the German and Danish cultures. The host of Liet International is the umbrella organisation of the German minority, Bund Deutscher Nordschleswiger (BDN). BDN will host this event in cooperation with the Danish and North Frisian minorities in Northern Germany – represented by their cultural and umbrella organisations Sydslesvigsk Forening and Friisk Foriining. In addition, a lot of other regional/local partners and sponsors will be part of this cultural highlight. More information on the German minority border region here: www.nordschleswig.dk
Let’s celebrate diversity by combining the uniqueness of the German-Danish border region with European music and language diversity. The German-Danish border region’s landscape is appealing and diversified. There is hilly landscape by the Baltic Sea, idyllic inland and a North Sea coast with the Wadden Sea and dikes. The borderland is historically formed by German and Danish influences as well as shifting structure of power. Wartimes are replaced today by a peaceful cooperation and mutual support, in which the German minority on the Danish side as well as the Frisian and the Danish people of Southern Schleswig on the German side contributes to the cultural diversity of the region. This high concentration of minorities leads automatically to a huge variety in languages. Besides German and Danish, the regional and minority languages Frisian, Low German and Synnejysk are spoken in this region.
