National anthem
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A national anthem is a
History
In the
Following the reinstating of La Marseillaise in
If an anthem is defined as consisting of both a melody and lyrics, then the oldest national anthem in use today is the national anthem of the Netherlands, the
The Olympic Charter of 1920 introduced the ritual of playing the national anthems of the gold medal winners. From this time, the playing of national anthems became increasingly popular at international sporting events, creating an incentive for such nations that did not yet have an officially defined national anthem to introduce one.[a]
The United States introduced the patriotic song The Star-Spangled Banner as a national anthem in 1931. Following this, several nations moved to adopt as official national anthem patriotic songs that had already been in de facto use at official functions, such as Mexico (Mexicanos, al grito de guerra, composed 1854, adopted 1943) and Switzerland ("Swiss Psalm", composed 1841, de facto use from 1961, adopted 1981).
By the period of
A number of nations remain without an official national anthem adopted
Usage
National anthems are used in a wide array of contexts. Certain etiquette may be involved in the playing of a country's anthem. These usually involve military honours, standing up, removing headwear etc. In diplomatic situations the rules may be very formal. There may also be
They are played on
In some countries, the national anthem is played to students each day at the start and/or end of school as an exercise in patriotism, such as in Tanzania.
Various solutions may be used when countries with different national anthems compete in a unified team. When North Korea and South Korea participated together in the 2018 Winter Olympics, the folk song "Arirang", beloved on both sides of the border and seen as a symbol of Korea as a whole, was used as an anthem instead of the national anthem of either state.[13]
Creators
Most of the best-known national anthems were written by little-known or unknown composers such as Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, composer of "La Marseillaise" and John Stafford Smith who wrote the tune for "The Anacreontic Song", which became the tune for the U.S. national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". The author of "God Save the King", one of the oldest and best-known anthems in the world, is unknown and disputed.
Very few countries have a national anthem written by a world-renowned composer. Exceptions include Germany, whose anthem "
The committee charged with choosing a national anthem for the Federation of Malaya (later Malaysia) at independence decided to invite selected composers of international repute to submit compositions for consideration, including Benjamin Britten, William Walton, Gian Carlo Menotti and Zubir Said, who later composed "Majulah Singapura", the national anthem of Singapore. None were deemed suitable. The tune eventually selected was (and still is) the anthem of the constituent state of Perak, which was in turn adopted from a popular French melody titled "La Rosalie" composed by the lyricist Pierre-Jean de Béranger.
A few anthems have words by
Other countries had their anthems composed by locally important people. This is the case for Colombia, whose anthem's lyrics were written by former president and poet Rafael Nuñez, who also wrote the country's first constitution, and in Malta, written by Dun Karm Psaila, already a National Poet. A similar case is Liberia, the national anthem of which was written by its third president, Daniel Bashiel Warner.
Languages
A national anthem, when it has lyrics (as is usually the case), is most often in the national or most common language of the country, whether de facto or official, there are notable exceptions. Most commonly, states with more than one national language may offer several versions of their anthem, for instance:
- The "Swiss Psalm", the national anthem of Switzerland, has different lyrics for each of the country's four official languages (French, German, Italian and Romansh).
- The national anthem of Canada, "bilingual nature. The song itself was originally written in French.
- "The Soldier's Song", the national anthem of Ireland, was originally written and adopted in English, but an Irish translation, although never formally adopted, is nowadays almost always sung instead, even though only 10.5% of Ireland speaks Irish natively.[14]
- The current South African national anthem is unique in that five of the country's eleven official languages are used in the same anthem (the first stanza is divided between two languages, with each of the remaining three stanzas in a different language). It was created by combining two songs together and then modifying the lyrics and adding new ones.
- The former country of Czechoslovakia combined the two national anthems of the two lands; the first stanza consisting of the first stanza of the Czech anthem "Kde domov můj", and the second stanza consisting of the first stanza of the Slovak anthem "Nad Tatrou sa blýska".
- One of the two official national anthems of New Zealand, "God Defend New Zealand", is now commonly sung with the first verse in Māori ("Aotearoa") and the second in English ("God Defend New Zealand"). The tune is the same but the words are not a direct translation of each other.
- "God Bless Fiji" has lyrics in English and Fijian which are not translations of each other. Although official, the Fijian version is rarely sung, and it is usually the English version that is performed at international sporting events.
- Although Singapore has four official languages, with English being the current lingua franca, the national anthem, "Majulah Singapura" is in Malay and, by law, can only be sung with its original Malay lyrics, despite Malay being a minority language in Singapore. This is because Part XIII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore declares, "the national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in the Roman script […]"
- There are several countries that do not have official lyrics to their national anthems. One of these is the "Europe".
- The national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana": the official lyrics are in Bengali; they were adapted from a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore.
- Despite the most common language in Wales being English, the Welsh national anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" is sung in the Welsh language.
- An unofficial national anthem of Finland, "Maamme", was first written in Swedish and only later translated to Finnish. It is nowadays sung in both languages as there is a Swedish speaking minority of about 5% in the country. The national anthem of Estonia, "Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm" has a similar melody with "Maamme", but only with different lyrics and without repeating the second halves of strophes. Finlandia has been repeatedly suggested to be the official national anthem of Finland.[16]
- The national anthem of Pakistan, the "Qaumi Taranah", is unique in that it is entirely in Farsi (Persian) with the exception of one word which is in Urdu, the national language.
See also
- Personal anthem, for a monarch or representative of a monarch, often in addition to a national anthem or being a national anthem itself
- Earth anthem (unofficial), any song or music with the planet Earth in an exalted role
- List of national anthems
- Martial music
- List of former national anthems
- List of regional anthems
Notes
- ^ A Welsh patriotic song, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, was sung in a rugby game against New Zealand in Llanelli in 1905, and came to be regarded as "unofficial national anthem of Wales" after this event.
References
- ^ "Which Country Has the Longest National Anthem?". 21 June 2018.
- ^ "National anthem - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Burton-Hill, Clemency (21 October 2014). "World Cup 2014: What makes a great national anthem?". BBC.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ M. de Bruin, "Het Wilhelmus tijdens de Republiek", in: L.P. Grijp (ed.), Nationale hymnen. Het Wilhelmus en zijn buren. Volkskundig bulletin 24 (1998), p. 16-42, 199–200; esp. p. 28 n. 65.
- ^ J. Leerssen: National Thought in Europe: A Cultural History, Amsterdam University Press, 2020, p. 103.
- ^ Japan Policy Research Institute JPRI Working Paper No. 79 Archived 2 October 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "Kenya". Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ^ "Musical traditions in sports". SportsIllustrated.
- ^ "Tanzania: Dons Fault Court Over Suspension of Students (Page 1 of 2)". allAfrica.com. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ "Identity: Nationalism confronts a desire to be different". Financial Times. 29 June 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Yomiuri Shimbun Foul cried over Taiwan anthem at hoop tourney Archived 2 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Published 6 August 2007
- ^ "How national anthem became essential part of sports". USA TODAY. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ Watson, Ivan; Ko, Stella; McKenzie, Sheena (5 February 2018). "Joint Korean ice hockey team plays for first time ahead of Olympics". CNN. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- ^ "Census of Population 2016 – Profile 10 Education, Skills and the Irish Language - CSO - Central Statistics Office". 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- ^ "Spain: Lost for words - The Economist". The Economist. 26 July 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- ^ YLE Uutiset: Sibeliuksen Finlandia syntyi vapauden kaipuusta, sävelet kertovat Suomen kansan noususta
External links
- anthem (P85) (see uses)
- NationalAnthems.me – national anthems of every country in the world (and historical national anthems) with streaming audio, lyrics, information and links
- National Anthems (mp3 files)
- National anthem of India (in Hindi). Archived 9 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
- Nationalanthems.info, lyrics and history of national anthems
- Recordings of countries' anthems (mp3 files)
- Recordings of countries' anthems around the world by the United States Navy Band