Two finalists will be chosen from tomorrow's Nòs Ùr (New Style) contest at Eden Court's Empire Theatre, one chosen by a judging panel and the other by a public vote in which both the theatre audience and those at home following the contest on the internet have their say. The winners will compete in the pan-European minority language song competition, Liet International, in Friesland in the Netherlands in October.

For the second year of the competition the main contest has its own fringe with a panel on how to make a success in minority language music at Eden Court tomorrow morning and a free youth event, Nòs Òg, at Eden Court's OneTouch Theatre this evening with young bands from Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

Tomorrow's main contest is also free to under-16s, with adult tickets £8.

"We're expecting a big walk-up on the night because of that," event organiser Brian Ó hEadhra commented.

"The first year was an unknown quantity, but it was a roaring success and I think it exceeded people's expectations. There were a lot of people saying they would be buying their tickets again for this year."

This year the contest is also enjoying some Scottish Government recognition. Scottish culture minister Mike Russell will officially open the concert, which features 10 performers from six nations, and present the public prize.

The MCs for the evening are acclaimed singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, who will also perform with Kim Edgar after the intermission, and television star Tony Kearney from BBC Scotland's "River City".

The local Gaelic youth group Canntaireachd will perform before the contest.

However, though the main competition is conducted in traditional languages, including Scots and Ulster-Scots, there is no requirement to perform in a traditional musical form.

Last year's winners were Breton contemporary singer Gwennyn and Welsh reggae band Yr Annioddefol, with Gaelic punk rock and Welsh jazz among the other musical styles heard on the night.

This year's competition is no less diverse.

"This time we have three Gaelic bands. One of them, Na Gathan from Skye, is pop rock, or maybe just rock. It's the same with Sunrise Not Secular," Ó hEadhra said.

The Stilletoes.

"Then we have Mary Ann Kennedy, who is a more typical singer-songwriter. There's a similar variety with the other languages. The Breton entry is in rap. The Cornish song is very strong musically and probably a bit more contemporary as well."

There is a similarly wide geographical spread and Ó hEadhra is particularly pleased to receive an entry in Ulster-Scots and in Cornish, the least spoken of all the languages represented.

"We didn't get a Manx entry this year, but the Manx have been quite strong in the past so I'm sure we will get one again," he added.

Though neither of last year's winners managed to repeat their success in the European finals — something else the competition has in common with Eurovision — which were held in Swedish Lapland, Ó hEadhra added: "What they got was the experience of a lifetime. They both really enjoyed it. They had the BBC following them from Wales and the Breton press following their entry.

"It's not the winning, it's the taking part. Everyone who is through to this stage has proven they are of high calibre. It's all about building up confidence in the languages and band careers and their own personalities, which is a very positive thing for bands to do, and not just young bands, because this is for all ages."

However, the emphasis will be on youth for this evening's Nòs Òg free showcase event which begins at 7.30pm Taking part are Highland act Fionnar, singing in Scots Gaelic, The Stilletoes from North Wales singing in Welsh and The Temporary from the west of Ireland singing in Irish Gaelic. Also performing will be Dingwall singer Fiona J. MacKenzie.

To augment the Nòs Òg and Nòs Ùr events, at 11.30am on Saturday morning there will be a music industry panel discussion titled: "Do you have to sing in English to be successful?"

"And hopefully the answer to that will be a resounding no," Ó hEadhra declared.

"It's nice to hear these languages in song and it's nice that Gaelic is quite strong in that category. During goNorth last week there was a similar discussion and the Dutch speaker was saying that it was quite difficult to write in Dutch because there were only 38 million speakers — all the Gaelic contingent just looked at him open-mouthed!"

The UHI Millennium Institute is also hosting a conference at Eden Court tomorrow on the theme "Politicising Minority Languages". This will draw senior academics and language enthusiasts from far and wide with keynote speakers culture minister Michael Russell, BBC Radio Scotland presenter Lesley Riddoch, Dr Mike Cormack from Sabhal Mòr Ostaig College on Skye and Professor Kenneth MacKinnon from the University of Aberdeen.

Next year Nòs Ùr could be taking a break from Inverness with interest from Wales in hosting the contest, but instead Eden Court would welcome the Liet International final, with entrants from across Europe.

* Nòs Òg takes place at the OneTouch Theatre Eden Court this evening at 7.30pm. Nòs Ùr will take place at the Empire Theatre, Eden Court, and be broadcast live on the internet from 7.30pm tomorrow.

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