In brief

Tune in Galician reaches final of artificial intelligence song contest

‘Ai-lalelo’ pays homage to women of Galicia

Galician song Ai-lalelo is one of 15 finalists of the AI Song Contest, an Eurovision-inspired festival that has been organized since 2020 as an award for themes written with the help of artificial intelligence. All the songs can be listened to on the festival’s website, where televote is open until June 30.

Ai-lalelo has required a 4-month work by a team of 6 Galician artists, engineers, researchers, and musicians, who call themselves PAMP!, acronym for “Proxecto Ana María Prieto”, in memory of who was probably the first Galician computer programmer.

The Galician entry has a Catalan connection, given that Galician-Catalan journalist Joel Cava is the team coordinator.

To make the creative process possible, PAMP! taught a computer to speak Galician and to write songs, building from a collection of 400 traditional cantigas preserved in the Volai-vai! online archive.

The tune tells the story of a 19th century seamstress who, while working to earn a living, prepares a witch coven. The theme is a tribute to Galician women and, through their participation in the festival, PAMP! seek to vindicate the culture of Galicia in an international contest.

The final of the festival is set to take place on 6 July in the Sala Reflektor in Liège (Belgium), to be livestreamed on the AI Song Contest’s official channel. The final classification will be decided on the basis of a mixed system where televotes and the jury vote will count 50% each. The Galician proposal can be voted on at votaailalelo.com.

To reach the final, Ai-lalelo had to qualify from a semi-final contested by 46 entries.

The song is the only one written in a minoritised language in the 2022 contest. In 2021, the same happened with Catalonia’s entry, I feel the wires, by AICAT team.