Dania O. Tausen wins both the audience and the critics’ award – Suns Europe 2023
The popular and the technical jury unanimously agreed on the Faroe Islander, who performed in the beautiful venue of the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine
UDINE – Dania O. Tausen (Faroe Islands) was awarded unanimously (by both the audience and the jury) the first prize of the ninth edition of Suns Europe (June 24 – October 28 2023), the festival of the arts in minorised language, organized by the cooperative Informazione Friulana, which produces Radio Onde Furlane, with financial support from MiC – Ministry of Culture, from the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and from ARLeF – Agjenzie regjonâl pe lenghe furlane, and in collaboration with many other public and private entities.
The mysterious Faroe Islands are at the centre of Dania O. Tausen’s world, in which she wanders seamlessly between music and poetry. In her songs, small everyday chronicles serve as a pretext to enter the world of an artist whose pop-soul-rock hull barely contains her bursting love for her own language and folk traditions. The big concert was held on Saturday, October 14, 2023, in the beautiful venue of the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine.
THE AWARDS – «For her beautiful voice and for the way she interprets her Homeland. For having succeeded in conveying the magic of the Faroe Islands. For the high quality, too, of the musicians that gave value and strength to her performance». With these words, the international technical jury announced Dania O.Tausen as the winner. The award was given to her by Lorenzo Zanon, member and acting president of the Scientific Committee of ARLeF – Agjenzie Regjonâl pe Lenghe Furlane, and Federico Pirone, councillor for culture of the Municipality of Udine.
Even before that, it was the audience in the Theatre, together with the international audience that could vote from home while listening to the show livestreaming on Radio Onde Furlane, that chose her as the winner. She therefore also received the “Guglielmo Tonelli” award from the hands of Cristina Perusin, the mother of the young musician who died prematurely in 2021 and to whom the organizers decided to dedicate the award.
The third award, Altre Europe, was given to the Babel Film Festival and handed to Paolo Carboni, film director, member of the Babel association and artistic director of the Festival. The choice was motivated with these words: «Since 2010, it has been a key event for cinema made by minorities – linguistic and otherwise. Besides showcasing cinematic productions in languages and styles that resist the currently dominating mandated uniformity, it offers an opportunity for professionals working in the field to meet and share creative ideas, and an occasion to campaign
for the rights of minoritised communities, beyond the borders of our continent. This is why the Altre Europe Award 2023 goes to the Babel Film Festival of Casteddu / Cagliari».
THE BANDS – It was a fun, colourful night at the “Nuovo”. The artists gave it their all, with passion and enthusiasm, singing in their mother tongue. Hosted by Michele Polo and Marianna Tonelli, beside the aforementioned winner, Mishima (Catalonia), Ødei (Basque Country), Lisa Harms (Lower Saxny), Chroma (Wales) and Devid Strussiat (Friuli) also performed.
Speaking soon after the show Leo Virgili, the artistic director of the event, gave his enthusiastic review: «It was an exciting night; full of many good things. But so were the days before the concert, when the artists had the chance to get to know each other and build relationships. I am happy Dania O. Tausen won: she’s an amazing young artist. More generally, I am very pleased with how the show went. Marianna Tonelli made an impact on stage. She is young, she comes from Radio Onde Furlane, and she has proved to be both professional and at ease on a stage as important as that of the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine. I think that this has been one of the best achievements of this edition».
Carlo Puppo, president of the cooperative Informazione Friulana, which produces Radio Onde Furlane, the organizer of the event, shared a similar sentiment: «We are very happy with this edition of the Suns Europe Festival. We can say that it went out with a bang. With the big concert that, we believe, satisfied the expectations of the public. With a high artistic quality, but, more importantly, with a high human quality and the chance to do what we really care about: to unite, create connections, show different cultures, languages and communities while, at the same time, affirming our right to use our languages fully and to be what we are – in a way that is firm, but also joyous».
THE CLOSING EVENT OF THE 2023 EDITION – The last event of Suns Europe 2023 will take place in Codroipo on October 28 at 9 pm. The musician Devid Strussiat, having represented Friuli in the big concert on October 14, will also perform during the awards ceremony of the 44th edition of the San Simon, the main contest for literature in the Friulian language, which is organized by the Municipality of Codroipo.
SUNS EUROPE – Suns Europe (June-October 2023) is the European festival of performing arts in minoritised language. This term refers to all languages the speakers of which are denied their normal and equal use in all domains of daily life. Born in 2009 in Friuli, the multilingual heart of Europe, Suns (meaning “sounds” in Friulian) started as a musical contest for minority communities in Alpine and Southern Europe. The festival then evolved into Suns Europe, which serves today as a meeting place for artists belonging to minority language groups all over the continent, and as an occasion for European communities to deepen their own awareness of language rights, as well as of the importance of cultural pluralism as heritage, right and opportunity for all, in Friuli and beyond. The Festival is organised by the cooperative Informazione Friulana, which produces Radio Onde Furlane, with financial support from MiC – Ministry of Culture, from the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and from ARLeF – Agjenzie regjonâl pe lenghe furlane, and in collaboration with many other public and private entities such as the Etxepare Basque Institute, the Municipalities of Udine, Codroipo, Mortegliano, Moruzzo, Muzzana del Turgnano, Romans d’Isonzo and S.Vito al Tagliamento; the Teatri Stabil Furlan, organisations Stichting REUR (Lower Saxony), Babel (Sardinia), Inniò, Amîs da Mont Quarine, Liberatorio d’Arte “Fulvio Zonch”, and clubs ARCI CRAL in S. Vito al Tagliamento and Cas*Aupa in Udine. Suns Europe always succeeds in turning Friuli into a hub and melting pot of cultures, languages and artists, a shared space for debate and cross-fertilisation and a platform for cultural production of undisputed quality and worth.
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