A popular update for the Swiss anthem

Switzerland has chosen a new national anthem – sort of. Two years after the start of a contest to create a new hymn, the winner was announced on Saturday at the Swiss National Folk Music Festival in Aarau. Now the next phase – convincing the country to adopt the hymn – will begin.  The winning composition, written by Werner Widmer of Zurich, creates new lyrics for the 170-year-old original melody by Alberik Zwyssig. The organisers had made clear early on that their preference would be for composers to stick to the original music, which is more popular than the original lyrics, as closely as possible.  Although a contest winner has been selected, “we’re not going to storm the parliament building,” said Jean-Daniel Gerber, president of the Swiss Society for the Common Good (SSCG), which organised the contest. Rather, the organisers will seek out various ways to promote the winning piece, for example, among schools and choirs and sports clubs.  It will be necessary to …
Source: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/national-anthem_a-popular-update-for-the-swiss-anthem/41658206?ns_mchannel=rss

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