Time to answer our Qeo Quiz -- and it takes us to a city in northern Sweden. It's at the southern edge of Swedish Lapland or Sápmi - the region traditionally inhabited by the Sami people.

The answer is Östersund, Sweden.

It's chilly up in northern Sweden this time of year. So locals huddled inside Östersund's concert hall recently to warm up and to listen to an unusual music performance. It was a contest for singers and musicians who perform in minority languages. Listen up! as as The World's David Leveille explains in today's Global Hit:

music - JORD: Oonhän meilä vielä kieli (Meän kieli) Still, the language lives with us

Leveille: Don't worry if you can't make out the words. This song by the folkband Jord is sung in Meän kieli, a variant of Finnish spoken along the border with Sweden.

music - JORD: Mona Mörtlund Oonhän meilä vielä kieli Vielä kuuluu meän ääni Väylää myöten laulu kulkee Aalot vielä sanat kantaa Vielä lyöpi meän syän Ääniä on vielä monta Monta jokka laulun kuulee Monta joita sanat koskee Vielä löytyy rakhautta Elävä oon vielä syli Vielä syntyy voimaa uutta Vielä uusi laulu soi Ännu lever språket hos oss.

English translation: Still, the language lives with us still, our voices are heard. Along the river, the song travels the current still carries the words. Still, our heart is beating the voices are still many. Many who can hear the song many who are touched by the words. Still, one can find love living is still the source. Still, new people will come to sing new songs.

Leveille: Meän kieli was one of 10 minority languages featured in a song contest that recently took place in Sweden.

Onno Falkena: "The festival was organised in the town of Östersund, and everybody sings in their own language."

Leveille: Onno Falkena helped put together the annual musical competition. It's called the Liet Lavlut. The name Liet Lavlut combines Sami and Friesen words. And it simply means "to sing a song."

Onno Falkena: "It's a kind of showpiece of the cultural musical diversity of Europe and we also would like to give the artists the chance to break away from those boundaries and to present themselves at an international stage and for an international audience."

Arbegarbe - Friulian

Leveille:The result was a musical pastiche. Basque singers from Spain, a Friulian band from northern Italy and one of the best Gaelic singers and pipers from the Outer Hebrides. Another stand out was Narf - a Galician troubador who adds a touch of samba in this song about a city whose "soul is entangled in spiral stone arcs, the calm in the middle of the gale, a city of mystery" ....You guessed it: Santiago:

music - Narf - Santiago (Galician): FRAN PÉREZ, NARF SON DUNHA CIDADE FUTURISTA CA ALMA ENREDADA NA ESPIRAL ARCOS, CASAS, FLORES DE PEDRA QUE ALGUÉN SEMENTOU, A CALMA NO MEIO DO VENDAVAL CIDADE MISTERIO, ALDEA OCULTA , SANTIAGO A MAXIA APARECE, INVADE E TRANSFORMA OS CAMIÑOS SON RÍOS A PEDRA UN MANANTIAL CIDADE INCOMPLETA , FARO ERRANTE, SANTIAGO A NOITE DISPUXO QUE GUIASEN OS ASTROS E SAÍMOS AO ENCONTRO DOS QUE VIÑAN DO MAR RETUMBAN NA NÉBOA CÍRCULOS CAMPÁ NO TÍMPANO MENTAL BERENGUELE LELÉ LELELÉ LELÉ O LENTO LAMENTO DO TEMPORAL A CALMA NO MEIO DO VENDAVAL.

English translation:I´M FROM A FUTURIST CITY WITH THE SOUL ENTANGLED IN THE SPIRAL STONE ARCS, HOUSES, FLOWERS THAT SOMEBODY HAS SEEDED, THE CALM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GALE CITY OF MYSTERY, HIDDEN VILLAGE, SANTIAGO THE MAGIC APPEARS, INVADES AND TRANSFORMS WAYS ARE RIVERS STONE A SPRING INCOMPLETE CITY, NOMADIC LIGHT, SANTIAGO THE NIGHT HAS ARRANGED TO BE GUIDED BY THE STARS AND WE LEFT TO GO TO MEET THOSE WHO WERE COMING FROM THE SEA CIRCLES RESOUND IN THE FOG BELL IN THE MENTAL EARDRUM BERENGUELE LELÉ LELELÉ LELÉ THE SLOW MOAN OF THE WEATHER THE CALM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GALE.

Leveille:Here's another tune that's not likely to climb the pop charts anytime soon. But in fact it it took the top prize at the competition.

music - Ludiin Muitalan: Gulát go, dan luodi mii njáhkala Dovddat go, don moht biegga jorrála

Johan Kitti and Ellen Sara Baehr

Leveille: It's sung by a couple of joikers. No, not jokers. Joikers, says Onno Falkena, are traditional singers in the Sami culture.

Onno Falkena: The Sami are the only indigenous people of Europe. They're also still a travelling people, travelling with the reindeer during the seasons and they also have a different way of singing, they call it joiking and this can be compared to the chanting of Native Americans and in recent years, the last 15 years or so there's a real revival of Sami culture and Sami music. Johann Kiti and Elen Bear captured the hearts of the Sami and they did the same in Östersund.

Leveille: This song is called Ludiin Muitalan... the Sami lyrics ask: Can you feel the wind blowing? Can you hear me whispering? ... Whisper it may, but this song also rocks!

Johan Kitti and Ellen Sara Baehr

Ludiin Muitalan: Johan Kitti & EllenSara Bæhr - (Sámi) Music and lyrics: Johan Kitti Gulát go, dan luodi mii njáhkala Dovddat go , don moht biegga jorrála Gulát go, maid dutnje savkalan Ludiin mon, dutnje muitalan Dovddát go, moht áibmu lihkkála Dovddát go , don mii du birra njáhkala Gullet go, maid dutnje savkalin Ráhkisvuodain, mon dutnje juoiggadin

English translation:Can you hear the yoik coming closer? Can you feel the wind blowing? Can you hear me whispering with these words? I'm telling you. Can you feel the air moring? Can you feel the warmth embracing you? Can you hear what I whispered? Full of love I sang to you...

Leveille: The organizers of the Liet Lavlut say it's partly a reaction against what they see as the "cultural greyness" of the pop music scene. It's also a response to the Eurovision Song Contest -- where performers are increasingly dropping their own languages in favor of English. Falkena hopes to encourage young artists to sing in their own language:

Onno Falkena: "I mean if you want to keep you language alive, it's important that you have heros who are using your own language, it's also important to have contemporary music in your own language, and that it's not just folk music which has been the same for over 500 years. What we are always looking for is new songs, contemporary songs to celebrate the linguistic and musical diversity."

Leveille:This kind of music may not be everyone's cup of tea....I mean would you download a song from iTunes whose lyrics are in Manx...a language spoken only on the Isle of Mann? or a tune by an Estonian folk metal band called the Ruad Ants sung in Votian, a language spoken only in two villages along the Russian border?

Raud Ants

Leveille:Actually, Liet Lavlut organizers say the minority song contest, now in its 4th year is soaring in popularity. Any trepidation about stepping into these musical waters disappears when you hear this lively Romani band from Hungary called Karavan Familia.

Karavan Familia - Shej baxtali (Romani chib)

Onno Falkena: They are a real family because it's a father, mother, their children teenagers they formed a band so it's really a family on stage...and the leader of the band is Istvan Nagy, he is a very well known Romani musician and he has travelled all over Europe collecting the rich Romani musical tradition... This composition is called Shej Baxtali and it means “Lucky Girl” He wrote it for his daughter, his daughter is 13 years old but already she is the lead singer of her fathers band. Onstage they dance and improvise. They're brilliant musicians.

Leveille: Young Ms. Nagy sings here in Romani chib, a Roma gypsy language. She sings: "When I go to the villages, I always make some money, and as I walk in the streets, the good luck is always with me! Tiradaridiram!" Luck was the Karavan Family. Officially the song came in third in Östersund. But unofficially it was everyone's favorite. Including mine.

For the World, I'm David Leveille

music Karavan Familia Shej baxtali (Romani chib)

(Music: trad., lyrics: Istvan Nagy & trad., arr.: Istvan Nagy & The KARAVAN Familia) Kanak me zhav ande gava, duj-trin shela rodava, kanak phirav pe vulyici, e baxtori manca si! Kanak me zhav ande gava, duj-trin shela rodava, kanak phirav pe vulyici, e baxtori manca si! Tiradaridiram... Avav andar e gava, Tiradaridiram... mange love anava! Tiradaridiram... Avav andar e gava, Tiradaridiram... mange love anava! Shukar san, shukar si tyire jakha, vash tuke kothe mukhlem mura da! Shukar san, shukar si tyire jakha, vash tuke kothe mukhlem mura da! Mura da, mure dades... mure majbare phrales, Devla! Mura da, mure dades... mure majbare phrales, Devla! Phendem aba tuke, zhav me pala tute, zhav me pala tute, maj merav vash tuke! Aj Devla Raja, dikhav e cherhaja, Devla de man aba, de man, so mangava! Aj Devla Raja, dikhav e cherhaja, Devla de man aba, de man, so mangava!

Karavan Familia

Lucky Girl (English translation):
When I go to the villages, I always make some money, and as I walk in the streets, the good luck is always with me! When I go to the villages, I always make some money, and as I walk in the streets, the good luck is always with me! Tiradaridiram... I come back from the villages, Tiradaridiram... and I bring my money! Tiradaridiram... I come back from the villages, Tiradaridiram... and I bring my money! You are beautiful and your eyes brighten so nice, I have left my mother for you! You are beautiful and your eyes brighten so nice, I have left my mother for you! I have left my mother, my father and my brother for you, oh my God! I have left my mother, my father and my brother for you, oh my God! Oh my God, oh my Lord, I'm looking at the stars, Oh my God fulfil my wish! Oh my God, oh my Lord, I'm looking at the stars, Oh my God fulfil my wish!