Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia
national anthem of Zimbabwe) | |
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"Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" (instrumental) |
"Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" (or "Voices of Rhodesia") was the national anthem of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in April 1980) between 1974 and 1979. The tune was that of "Ode to Joy", the Fourth Movement from Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which had been adopted as the official European continental anthem by the Council of Europe in 1972 (it remains the European Union's anthem today). The music used in Rhodesia was an original sixteen-bar arrangement by Captain Ken MacDonald, the bandmaster of the Rhodesian African Rifles. A national competition was organised by the government to find an appropriate set of lyrics to match the chosen tune, and won by Mary Bloom of Gwelo.
In the fallout from
History
Background
National anthems of Zimbabwe | ||||||||||||||||||||
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A dispute over the terms for the granting of full statehood to the
Adoption
The Rhodesian government initiated a search for a new anthem around the time of its adoption of a new
The
The winning lyricist was confirmed on 24 September 1974 to be Mary Bloom,[11] a company director, music critic and poet from Gwelo, who had moved to Rhodesia from South Africa in 1947. Bloom titled her work "Voices of Rhodesia", but the full first line, "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia", ultimately entered common parlance as the song's title.[1]
Foreign observers were less than impressed; the British journalist Richard West, remarking that white Rhodesians were "renownedly philistine", asked "how could one not... squirm with embarrassment when the TV ends at night with the Rhodesian national anthem to the tune of Beethoven's Choral Symphony?"[12]
Lyrics
The lyrics officially adopted were as follows:[11]
Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
God may we Thy bounty share.
Give us strength to face all danger,
And where challenge is, to dare.
Guide us, Lord, to wise decision,
Ever of Thy grace aware,
Oh, let our hearts beat bravely always
For this land within Thy care.
Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
Bringing her your proud acclaim,
Grandly echoing through the mountains,
Rolling o'er the far flung plain.
Roaring in the mighty rivers,
Joining in one grand refrain,
Ascending to the sunlit heavens,
Telling of her honoured name.
Fall from use and legacy
"Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" remained in official usage for the rest of Rhodesia's history, as well as between June and December 1979, when Rhodesia was reconstituted as
Because of its use by "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia", the "Ode to Joy" melody is controversial in Zimbabwe, where its annual playing at foreign embassies on Europe Day initially caused shock to Zimbabwean government officials who, according to historian Josephine Fisher, had not previously been aware of the song's use by the Council of Europe.[13] During the 1980s, Derek Hudson, the long-time conductor of the Bulawayo Philharmonic Orchestra, had considerable difficulty securing official permission to give the first Zimbabwean performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He was eventually able to do so, but only after prolonged negotiations with the authorities.[16] When "Ode to Joy" was included in a fundraising organ recital held by a Harare church at Christmas 1994, it provoked angry protests from some who attended.[13]
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d NFBPWR 1976, pp. 142–143
- ^ a b Buch 2004, p. 1
- ^ White 2015, p. 124
- ^ Buch 2004, p. 243
- ^ a b c Vancouver Sun 1974
- ^ Smith 1997, p. 152
- ^ Nyoka 1970
- ^ Sutherland & Fender 2011, Chpt. January 20
- ^ Buch 2004, p. 245
- ^ a b c Buch 2004, p. 247
- ^ a b Africa research bulletin 1974, p. 3767
- ^ West 1978, p. 44
- ^ a b c d Fisher 2010, p. 60
- ^ Wessels 2010, p. 273
- ^ BBC 2004
- ^ Bullivant 2007
- Newspaper and journal articles
- Bullivant, Michael (12 December 2007). "Zimbabwe music lovers in harmony". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- Nyoka, Justin V J (18 July 1970). "Smith regime doing away with last British influences". The Afro-American. Baltimore, Maryland. p. 22. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- "Zimbabwe athlete sings own anthem". BBC. London. 19 July 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
- "Rhodesia picks Ode to Joy". The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, British Columbia: Postmedia News. 30 August 1974. p. 12. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
- Bibliography
- Buch, Esteban (May 2004) [1999]. Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History. Trans. Miller, Richard. Chicago, Illinois: ISBN 978-0-226-07824-3.
- Fisher, J L (2010). Pioneers, settlers, aliens, exiles: the decolonisation of white identity in Zimbabwe. Canberra: ISBN 978-1-921666-14-8.
- ISBN 1-85782-176-9.
- Sutherland, John; Fender, Stephen (2011) [2010]. Love, Sex, Death & Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature. London: Icon Books. ISBN 978-1-84831-247-0.
- Wessels, Hannes (July 2010). P K van der Byl: African Statesman. Johannesburg: 30° South Publishers. ISBN 978-1-920143-49-7.
- West, Richard (1978). The White Tribes Revisited. Private Eye Productions in association with Deutsch. ISBN 9780233970455.
- White, Luise (2015). Unpopular Sovereignty: Rhodesian Independence and African Decolonization. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226235196.
- Africa research bulletin: Political, social, and cultural series. Volumes 11–12. Oxford: Blackwell. 1974.
- Profiles of Rhodesia's women. Salisbury: National Federation of Business and Professional Women of Rhodesia. January 1976. ISBN 978-0-7974-0167-9.
External links
- MP3 version Archived 8 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- Anthem on Rhodesian Television, 1970s