Uploaded March 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Bahrainona (Arabic: بحريننا; "Our Bahrain"; also known as نشيد البحرين الوطني nashīd al-Baḥrayn al-waṭanī "the national anthem of Bahrain"), is the national anthem of Bahrain.
Two different versions were made with the same melody but with different words. The first was used from the Bahrain's independence in 1971 until 2002. The second has been in use since the constitutional amendments referendum that declared the country's ruler Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah as king, and the country a kingdom.
The original words were written by Mohamed Sudqi Ayyash (born 1925). The composer of the melody is unknown, but it was later re-arranged by singer and composer Ahmed AlJumairi and recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where it became the current, widely used anthem.
Bahrainona (Arabic: بحريننا; "Our Bahrain"; also known as نشيد البحرين الوطني nashīd al-Baḥrayn al-waṭanī "the national anthem of Bahrain"), is the national anthem of Bahrain.
Two different versions were made with the same melody but with different words. The first was used from the Bahrain's independence in 1971 until 2002. The second has been in use since the constitutional amendments referendum that declared the country's ruler Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah as king, and the country a kingdom.
The original words were written by Mohamed Sudqi Ayyash (born 1925). The composer of the melody is unknown, but it was later re-arranged by singer and composer Ahmed AlJumairi and recorded with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, where it became the current, widely used anthem.
![National Anthem: Ireland - Amhrán na bhFiann [New Version]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s_hmooJ-6eo/mqdefault.jpg "National Anthem: Ireland - Amhrán na bhFiann [New Version]
A Soldiers Song was composed in 1907, with words by Peadar Kearney and music by Kearney and Patrick Heeney. The first draft, handwritten on copybook paper, sold at auction in Dublin in 2006 for €760,000. The text was first published in Irish Freedom by Bulmer Hobson in 1912. It was used as marching song by the Irish Volunteers and was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, a large proportion of the IRAs men and apparatus became the National Army. The Soldiers Song remained popular as an Army tune, and was played at many military functions.")
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Much like the United States anthem, the Icelandic national anthem was originally written for a particular occasion and it probably did not occur to either the poet or the composer that the song was destined to become a national anthem.
In Iceland, nation-wide celebrations were held throughout 1874 to mark the 1000th anniversary of the first Norse settlement of the island. (This is the “Iceland’s thousand years” that are referenced in the anthem.) To mark the occassion, the Bishop of Iceland decreed that church services on August 2 of that year were to be held based on the anniversary, and the text to be presented was Psalm 90. The Rev. Matthías Jochumsson then decided to write a poem based on the Biblical text and the millennial anniversary. While abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, he met up with Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, who Jochumsson asked to compose music for his poem.")
