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By GRETCHEN PARKER
The Tampa Tribune
The quest for a new Florida anthem goes statewide Thursday, when a network of music teachers begins a search that aims to draw state song candidates from every corner of the state.
“Just Sing, Florida” will solicit would-be state songs from students of all ages, professional musicians and anyone else who wants to chime in, said Rick Oppenheim, a spokesman for the Florida Music Educators Association. The not-for-profit, professional association of K-12 and college music teachers is organizing the search.
Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville, who is leading the effort to replace the state song and tapped the association for help, is calling it Florida’s “American Idol.”
Organizers say the genius of the contest lies in the method of selection - votes by Floridians. Listeners can hear the song candidates by visiting a Web site and can register votes there. The site, www.justsingflorida.org, should be up and running by mid-May, Oppenheim said.
Hill plans to submit the selected song in a bill next year. It would need the approval of the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist, who is in favor of finding a new song. Florida’s official song, often called “Swanee River,” is widely viewed as racist, and Crist left it out of his inauguration ceremony in January.
Information on how to submit songs for “Just Sing, Florida” is to be released at a news conference at the capital Thursday. Oppenheim and Hill say the process of entering a song and voting is still being developed, and details could change.
But the concept of using a democratic process for the search is at the heart of the contest, Hill said.
“If we’re going to speak on behalf of 18 million Floridians, I think we owe them the opportunity” to participate, Hill said. His office has received at least four proposals for new state songs, but he wants to make room for other artists who “want to engage in this and become a part of history.”
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