A competition will take place next Friday to choose a song in Cornish to represent Cornwall at the Pan Celtic Festival in Ireland in April.

Four songs in very different styles will compete against one another, and a group of judges will decide which act will go on to the next stage and compete against songs from Wales, Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the International Pan Celtic Song Contest in Ireland.

All entries to the Pan Celtic Song Contest must be sung in the celtic language of the country they represent, and MAGA, the Cornish Language Partnership, offered help with writing lyrics in Cornish to people who were interested in entering a song to the competition.

“This is an important competition to select Cornwall’s talent to represent us on the international stage,” said Councillor Julian German, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for Economy and Culture. “Cornwall has performed well at the Pan Celtic Festival in recent years and we hope this run of success will continue.”

“Through November and December MAGA’s team of translators worked with song writers from Callington to Penzance to come up with lyrics in Cornish for their songs, and a number of these will be performed at the concert on 24th” said Matt Blewett, Project Support Officer for MAGA.

“There was a good level of entries and a shortlist of four were selected. We shall have two traditional music duos (Spyrys and Tir ha Tan), one shanty choir (the Aggie Boys Choir) and rock band Hanterhir.”

Tickets for the competition on January 24 at the Melting Pot Café, Krowji in Redruth cost £8 on the door or £6.50 in advance either from the café or on 07915 252757 between 9am and 5pm.