VocalNationalAnthems
China National anthem Chinese & English lyrics
updated
Ya Allah lanjutkanlah Usia
Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Adil berdaulat menaungi nusa
Memimpin rakyat kekal bahagia
Hidup sentosa Negara dan Sultan
Ilahi selamatkan Brunei Darussalam
Oh God Bless His Majesty,
With A Long Life
Justly And Nobly Rule The Kingdom
And Lead Our People Happily Forever
Peacefully Be, The Kingdom and Sultan
Almighty God, save Brunei, The House of Peace
Like many anthems, the Wilhelmus originated in the nation's struggle to achieve independence. It tells of Willem van Oranje (William of Orange), his life and why he is fighting against the King of Spain.[4] As a result, the anthem is written in a first person perspective, as if it were sung by William himself. William of Orange being the I-figure (Early Modern Dutch "ick") in the 1st stanza "Den Coninck van Hispaengien heb ick altijt gheeert" ("I have always honoured the King of Spain"). It was also the anthem of the Netherlands Antilles from 1954-1964.
This refers to the initial loyalty of the leading figures of the Dutch Revolt, the Counts of De Montmorency ("Hoorne") and Lamoral ("Egmond") who both were executed, and the then surviving Prince of Orange (William), to the Spanish King Philip II and their claim that they merely objected against some hardships of the Spanish rule over The Netherlands. These objections were especially concerning the taxation, political oppression and the religious prosecutions.
The text and tune of the song are remarkably peaceful for a national anthem. The Wilhelmus derives its name from the first word of the song; the Geuzenliedboek's original introduction to the text speaks of "a new Christian song" ("Een Nieu Christelick Liedt").
The original lyrics were written by Antun Mihanovic and first published under the title "Horvatska domovina" ("Croatian homeland") in 1835. The music was composed by Josip Runjanin in 1846.
The complete song was reportedly scored and harmonized by Vatroslav Lichtenegger in 1861, and it was first performed as the Croatian anthem in the same year, under the title "Lijepa naša". The original anthem has 15 verses. Since then it has come to be known under the slightly longer present title and a few minor adjustments have been made to the lyrics.Between 1918 and 1941, segments of the Croatian national anthem were part of the National Anthem of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In addition to the Himno de Bayamo, there are two other well-known Cuban songs called La Bayamesa. The first Bayamesa was composed in 1851 by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and José Fornaris at the request of their friend Francisco Castillo Moreno, who is sometimes also credited with the lyrics. Many years later, in 1918, the composer and trovador Sindo Garay, from Santiago de Cuba, composed a song that he called Mujer Bayamesa; popular usage shortened the title to La Bayamesa.
The first Chilean National Anthem dates back to 1819, when the government called for, on the 19th of July, the creation of music and lyrics for this purpose.
The composer Manuel Robles and the poet Bernardo de Vera y Pintado fulfilled this mandate and their "National Song" debuted on the 20 August 1820 in the Domingo Arteaga theater, although other historians claim that it was played and sung during the festivities of September 1819.
In the beginning, everyone would stand for the song. O'Higgins and Freire listened to it with respect and full of emotion, for they had marched to victory to its tune more than once.
The custom of always singing it at the theater slowly disappeared, until it was ordered that it only be sung at the anniversary of the country.
The doctor Bernardo Vera, known in the history of the independence, was the author of the verses that were sung to Robles' music.
This first hymn was sung until 1828, when it was replaced with what is sung today.
The second Chilean National Anthem was composed by the Spanish composer Ramón Carnicer, when he was exiled in England because of his liberal ideas. Mariano Egaña, Chilean Minister in London, acting on the criticism that Robles' song was receiving, asked Carnicer to compose a new hymn with Bernardo de Vera's original text.
The Spanish musician probably wrote the work by 1827, the date he returned to Barcelona, and his hymn debuted in Santiago, in the Arteaga theater, the 23 December 1828.
Years later, in 1847, the Chilean government entrusted the young poet Eusebio Lillo with a new text that would replace the anti-Spain poem of Vera y Pintado, and after being analyzed by Andrés Bello, retained the original chorus ("Dulce patria, recibe los votos...").
During the military government (19731990) of Augusto Pinochet, the Verse III was officially incorporated because of his praise of the militaries. After, in 1990, it was eliminated from the anthem and only sung in military events as part of the full song. Supporters from the former military regime also sing the anthem with the Verse III in private ceremonies.
Joe Walsh, famed musician who was part of the United States rock band the Eagles, sang the National Anthem of Chile at a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball game in 2003.
It is believed that the lyrics were written for the cornerstone-laying ceremony of the Independence Gate in Seoul in 1896 by Yun Chiho, a politician, or by An Chang-ho, a pro-independence leader and educator. Initially, Aegukga was sung to the tune of the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne", introduced to Korea by Western missionaries. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (1919-1945) in Shanghai, China adopted it as their national anthem. At a ceremony celebrating the founding of South Korea on 15 August 1948, exactly three years after liberation from Japanese rule, the Scottish tune was finally replaced by the Finale of Korea Fantasia that Ahn Eak-tae had composed in 1935. The new "Aegukga" was later adopted by the Presidential Decree of 1948 by then-President Syngman Rhee (or Lee Seungman).
Hino Nacional Portuguesa
Although the Swedish constitution makes no mention of a national anthem, the song enjoys universal recognition and is used, for example, at sporting events. It first began to win recognition as a patriotic song in the 1890s, and the issue was debated back and forth up until the 1930s. In 1938, the Swedish public service radio company Sveriges Radio started playing it at the end of transmitting in the evenings, which really marked the beginning of the "almost official" status as national anthem the song has since then.
Despite a widespread belief that it was adopted as the national anthem in 1866, no such recognition has ever been officially accorded. In 2000 a Riksdag committee rejected, as "unnecessary", a proposal to give the song official status. However, there have since been repeated motions with a similar intent.
The original lyrics were written by Richard Dybeck in 1844. Swedish composer Edvin Kallstenius arranged the traditional melody from Västmanland. Dybeck himself originally wrote the beginning as "Du gamla, Du friska" (Thou ancient, Thou hale), but in the late 1850´s personally changed the lyrics to "Du gamla, Du fria" (Thou ancient, Thou free). The song was already published in several song books and sung with "Du gamla, Du friska", but a priest who had known Dybeck got the opportunity to tell the singer who performed the song the most, opera singer Carl Fredrik Lundqvist, about the change in the year 1900. From that point on, printings of the "friska" version ceased to be seen in song books, but there is a recording from 1905 where it is sung with "friska" spread.
By the early 1900´s, many regarded the song unsuitable as a national anthem. In the 1890´s it started getting printed in song books in the section for patriotic songs, but as late as in the 1920´s it could be published just as "folk music". In 1899 a contest was held for writing a national anthem. It led to Verner von Heidenstam writing his "Sverige", but did not lead to any new national anthem.
Patriotic sentiment is notably absent from the text of the original two verses, which is because they were written in the spirit of Scandinavism popular at the time (Norden refers to the Nordic countries in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish). After the song started to acquire its informal status as the national anthem, various people wrote additional verses to increase the "Swedishness" of the song. Aforementioned Lundqvist wrote an own third verse beginning with "Jag älskar dig Sverige" (I love thee, Sweden), Frans Österblom wrote four verses beginning with "Jag älskar min hembygd" ("I love my native area") and Louise Ahlén in 1910 wrote two verses which have been printed a little now and then still to this day, not the least lately on the Internet. For a long time, they were very seldom published, and are still largely unknown to the public.
A very common mistake is singing "Jag vet att Du är och förblir vad du var" ("I know that You are and remain what You were") instead of "Jag vet att Du är och Du blir vad du var" ("I know that You are and You will be what You were").
A strange thing often done in instrumental performances is also that the last line of the melody is played once first as some kind of an "intro". This is never done to other national anthems, and shouldn´t be with "Du gamla, Du fria" either.
Soon after Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918, the first strophe of the song became the Czech part of the national anthem, followed by the first strophe of the Slovak song Nad Tatrou sa blýska. Because of language diversity of First republic official translations to Hungarian and German language were made.
The split of Czechoslovakia in 1992 divided also the Czechoslovak anthem. While Slovaks have extended their anthem adding a second strophe, the Czech Republic's national anthem has been legally adopted unextended, in its single-strophe version.
A small motif used by Škroup was written previously by W. A. Mozart in Concertanto Symphony KV 297 b
The music was composed by the German immigrant Fredrik Pacius, with (original Swedish) words by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, and was performed for the first time on 13 May 1848. The original poem, written in 1846 but not printed until 1848, had 11 stanzas and formed the prologue to the great verse cycle The Tales of Ensign Stål ("Fänrik Ståhls Sägner"), a masterpiece of Romantic nationalism. The current Finnish text is usually attributed to the 1889 translation of Ensign Stål by Paavo Cajander, but in fact originates from the 1867 translation by Julius Krohn.[1][2]
The Tales of Ensign Stål were much appreciated throughout all of Scandinavia. Up until the time of Finland's independence in 191718, when the song began to be recognized as specifically applying to Finland, Pacius's tune and Runeberg's text were often also sung in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Note that in the original Swedish text there is no reference to Finland (except for in verses 4 and 10, which are rarely sung), only to a country in the north, but the Finnish text explicitly refers to Finland. The poem's theme is, furthermore, remarkably similar to that of the national anthems of Sweden (Du gamla, Du fria) and Norway (Ja, vi elsker dette landet).
Some Finns have proposed that the Finnish national anthem be changed to Finlandia by Jean Sibelius, with lyrics by V.A. Koskenniemi (Finnish) and Joel Rundt (Swedish). There are also those who simply prefer Finlandia as a musical piece, although critics call it difficult to sing.
It is said that Pacius composed the tune in a mere fifteen minutes, with no idea that it would become so important to the people of Finland that they would eventually make it their national anthem.
The tune of Maamme has similarities with the German drinking song Papst und Sultan. Many believe that Fredrik Pacius intentionally or unintentionally copied parts of the tune. Another Finnish patriotic song, Sotilaspoika, composed by Pacius, also includes similarities with Papst und Sultan.
The melody of Maamme is also used for the national anthem of Estonia with a similarly themed text, Mu isamaa, mu õnn ja rõõm, My Fatherland, My Happiness and Joy (1869). It is also considered to be national anthem for Livonians with text Min izamo, min sindimo, My Fatherland, my native land.
The music was an instant success, but the original lyrics were questioned by several Dominican scholars, due to factual errors in the words. In 1897 Prud'homme submitted a corrected version, which stands today.
With the new lyrics approved by mostly everybody, the Dominican Congress adopted Himno Nacional as the official national anthem, after heated debates, on June 7, 1897. President Ulises Heureaux (1846-1899) vetoed the act, however, because Prud'homme was an opponent of his government. Heureaux was murdered in 1899 and the political disorders of the following years prevented the officialization of the anthem.
Himno Nacional was finally adopted as the national anthem of the Dominican Republic on May 30, 1934.
The term 'Dominican' never appears in the anthem. Prud'homme consistently uses the poetic term Quisqueyano.
Between 1886 and 1944, the Bulgarian national anthem was Shumi Maritsa ("Шуми Марица"); from 1950 to 1964, it was Balgariyo mila, zemya na geroi ("Българийо мила, земя на герои"); in the brief period between these two, the march "Republiko nasha, zdravey" ("Републико наша, здравей!") was used instead of an anthem.
Мила Родино
(Bulgarian Cyrillic)
(Transliteration)
(English translation)
Горда Стара планина,
до ней Дунава синей,
слънце Тракия огрява,
над Пирина пламеней.
Припев: (2 пъти)
Mила Родино,
ти си земен рай,
твойта хубост, твойта прелест,
ах, те нямат край.[1][2]
Паднаха борци безчет,
за народа наш любим,
майко, дай ни мъжка сила,
пътя им да продължим.*
Gorda Stara planina,
do ney Dunava siney,
sluntse Trakiya ogryava,
nad Pirina plameney.
Refrain: (twice)
Mila Rodino,
ti si zemen ray,
tvoyta hubost, tvoyta prelest,
ah, te nyamat kray.
Padnaha bortsi bezchet,
za naroda nash lyubim,
mayko, day ni muzhka sila
putya im da prodylzhim.*
Proud Balkan Mountains,
next to it the Danube sparkles,
the sun shines over Thrace,
and blazes over Pirin.
Refrain: (twice)
Dear Motherland,
you are heaven on earth,
your beauty, your loveliness,
ah, they are boundless.
Countless fighters died,
for our beloved nation,
mother, give us manly strength
to continue their path.*
The Brazilian national anthem (Portuguese: Hino Nacional Brasileiro) was composed by Francisco Manuel da Silva in 1822 and had been given at least two sets of lyrics before a 1922 decree by President Epitácio Pessoa gave the anthem its definitive lyrics, by Joaquim Osório Duque Estrada, after several changes were made to his proposal, written in 1909.
The anthem consists of two consecutive choruses. Brazilian law stipulates that only one chorus must be played in instrumental renditions of the anthem, but both must be sung in vocal performances. The second chorus is thus often dropped when played at sporting events, as the players are not facing a microphone when singing
The origins of the anthem, one of the oldest in the world, are unknown. The melody was first printed in a document dated 1761 and entitled Libro de Ordenanza de los toques militares de la Infantería Española (The Spanish Infantry's Book of Military Bugle Calls), by Manuel de Espinosa. Here it is entitled La Marcha Granadera ("March of the Grenadiers"), though no composer's name is given.
In 1770, King Carlos III declared the Marcha Granadera to be the official "Honour March", thereby according it a place at public and ceremonial events. Because it was always played at public events attended by the royal family, Spaniards soon came to regard the Marcha Granadera as their national anthem and called it the Marcha Real, or "Royal March".
Under the Second Spanish Republic (19311939), El Himno de Riego replaced La Marcha Real as the national anthem of Spain. At the conclusion of the Civil War, however, dictator Francisco Franco restored La Marcha Real as the country's national anthem, under its old title of La Marcha Granadera.
Franco lyrics:
Viva España, alzad los brazos, hijos
del pueblo español,
que vuelve a resurgir.
Gloria a la Patria que supo seguir,
sobre el azul del mar el caminar del sol.
Gloria a la Patria que supo seguir,
sobre el azul del mar el caminar del sol.
¡Triunfa España! Los yunques y las ruedas
cantan al compás
del himno de la fe.
¡Triunfa España! Los yunques y las ruedas
cantan al compás
del himno de la fe.
Juntos con ellos cantemos de pie
la vida nueva y fuerte del trabajo y paz.
Juntos con ellos cantemos de pie
la vida nueva y fuerte del trabajo y paz.
Viva España, alzad los brazos, hijos
del pueblo español,
que vuelve a resurgir.
Viva España, alzad los brazos, hijos
del pueblo español,
que vuelve a resurgir.
Gloria a la Patria que supo seguir,
sobre el azul del mar el caminar del sol.
Gloria a la Patria que supo seguir,
sobre el azul del mar el caminar del sol.
English Translation:
Long live Spain, raise your arms, sons
of the Spanish people,
who are rising again.
Glory to the Fatherland that knew how to follow,
over the blue of the sea the path of the sun.
Glory to the Fatherland that knew how to follow,
over the blue of the sea the path of the sun.
Spain triumphs! The anvils and wheels
sing to the rhythm
of the hymn of the faith.
Spain triumphs! The anvils and wheels
sing to the rhythm
of the hymn of the faith.
Together with them let's stand and sing
the new powerful life of labour and peace.
Together with them let's stand and sing
the new powerful life of labour and peace.
Long live Spain, raise your arms, sons
of the Spanish people,
who are arising again.
Long Live Spain, raise your arms, sons
of the Spanish people,
who are arising again.
Glory to the Fatherland that knew how to follow,
over the blue of the sea the path of the sun.
Glory to the Fatherland that knew how to follow,
over the blue of the sea the path of the sun.
The hymn was set to music in 1865 by the Corfiot operatic composer Nikolaos Mantzaros, who composed two choral versions, a long one for the whole poem and a short one for the first two stanzas; the latter is the one adopted as the National Anthem of Greece.
English Translation:
I know it's you from the edge
of the sword, the terrible one
I recognize you from the look
which with hardness surveys the land
drawn from the bones
of the Greeks, the sacred ones
and, valiant as first
hail, o hail, Liberty!
Penned by Mehmet Akif Ersoy and ultimately composed by Osman Zeki Üngör, the theme is one of affection for the Turkish homeland, freedom, and faith, of sacrifice for liberty, and of hope and devotion, explored through visual, tactile and kinesthetic imagery as they relate to the flag, the human spirit and the soil of the homeland.
The manuscript by Ersoy, between the title line İstiklâl Marşı and the first text line, carries the dedication Kahraman Ordumuza "To our Heroic Army", the army that won the Independence War. The lyrics reflect on the sacrifice of the soldiers during the War.
The Anthem is regularly heard during state and military events, as well as during national festivals, bayrams, sporting events, and school ceremonies.
Of the ten-stanza anthem, only the first two quatrains are typically sung with an upright, immobile and solemn composure. A framed version of the national anthem typically occupies the wall above the blackboard in the classrooms of every public as well as almost every private school in Turkey (accompanied by a Turkish flag, a photograph of the country's founding father Atatürk, and a copy of Atatürk's famous inspirational speech to the nation's youth).
The composition has also been adopted as the National Anthem of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
A scroll displaying the first two quatrains of the anthem was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish 100 lira banknotes of 1983-1989.
Turkey National Anthem Lyrics
iSTiKLAL MARSI
Korkma, sönmez bu safaklarda yüzen al sancak;
Sönmeden yurdumun üstünde tüten en son ocak.
O benim milletimin yildizidir, parlayacak;
O benimdir, o benim milletimindir ancak.
Catma, kurban olayim, çehreni ey nazli hilal!
Kahraman irkima bir gül! Ne bu siddet, bu celal?
Sana olmaz dökülen kanlarimiz sonra helal...
Hakkidir, hakk'a tapan, milletimin istiklal!
Ben ezelden beridir hür yasadim, hür yasarim.
Hangi çilgin bana zincir vuracakmis? Sasarim!
Kükremis sel gibiyim, bendimi çigner, asarim.
Yirtarim daglari, enginlere sigmam, tasarim.
Garbin afakini sarmissa çelik zirhli duvar,
Benim iman dolu gögsüm gibi serhaddim var.
Ulusun, korkma! Nasil böyle bir imani bogar,
'Medeniyet!' dedigin tek disi kalmis canavar?
Arkadas! Yurduma alçaklari ugratma, sakin.
Siper et gövdeni, dursun bu hayasizca akin.
Dogacaktir sana va'dettigi günler hakk'in...
Kim bilir, belki yarin, belki yarindan da yakin.
Bastigin yerleri 'toprak!' diyerek geçme, tani:
Düsün altinda binlerce kefensiz yatani.
Sen sehit oglusun, incitme, yaziktir, atani:
Verme, dünyalari alsan da, bu cennet vatani.
Kim bu cennet vatanin ugruna olmaz ki feda?
Suheda fiskiracak topragi siksan, suheda!
Cani, canani, bütün varimi alsin da hüda,
Etmesin tek vatanimdan beni dünyada cüda.
Ruhumun senden, ilahi, sudur ancak emeli:
Degmesin mabedimin gögsüne namahrem eli.
Bu ezanlar-ki sahadetleri dinin temeli,
Ebedi yurdumun üstünde benim inlemeli.
O zaman vecd ile bin secde eder -varsa- tasim,
Her cerihamdan, ilahi, bosanip kanli yasim,
Fiskirir ruh-i mücerred gibi yerden na'sim;
O zaman yükselerek arsa deger belki basim.
Dalgalan sen de safaklar gibi ey sanli hilal!
Olsun artik dökülen kanlarimin hepsi helal.
Ebediyen sana yok, irkima yok izmihlal:
Hakkidir, hür yasamis, bayragimin hürriyet;
Hakkidir, hakk'a tapan, milletimin istiklal!
English Translation:
Fear not, the crimson flag, waving in these dawns will never fade
Before the last hearth that is burning in my nation vanishes.
That is my nation's star, it will shine;
That is mine, it belongs solely to my nation.
Oh coy crescent do not frown for I am ready to sacrifice myself for you!
Please smile upon my heroic nation, why that anger, why that rage?
If you frown, our blood shed for you will not be worthy.
Freedom is the right of my nation who worships God and seeks what is right.
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was composed in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Methodist school teacher. It was originally sung as a church hymn but later became an act of political defiance against the apartheid government. Die Stem van Suid-Afrika is a poem written by C.J. Langenhoven in 1918 and was set to music by the Reverend Marthinus Lourens de Villiers in 1921[1]. Die Stem was the co-national anthem[2] with God Save the King/Queen from 1936 to 1957, when it became the sole national anthem until 1995. The South African government under Nelson Mandela adopted both songs as national anthems from 1995 until they were merged in 1997 to form the current anthem.
Lyrics:
(Xhosa) Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
(Zulu) Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.
English Translation:
God [Lord] bless Africa
Raise high Her glory
Hear our Prayers
God bless us, we her children
Il Canto degli Italiani (The Chant of the Italians) is the Italian national anthem. It is best known among Italians as L'Inno di Mameli (Mameli's Hymn) and often referred to as Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), from its opening line.
The words were written in the autumn of 1847 in Genoa, by the then 20-year-old student and patriot Goffredo Mameli, in a climate of popular struggle for unification and independence of Italy which foreshadowed the war against Austria.
Two months later, they were set to music in Turin by another Genoese, Michele Novaro. The hymn enjoyed widespread popularity throughout the period of the Risorgimento and in the following decades.
After unification (1861) the adopted national anthem was the Marcia Reale, the Royal March (or Fanfara Reale), official hymn of the royal house of Savoy composed in 1831 to order of Carlo Alberto di Savoia. The Marcia Reale remained the Italian national anthem until the birth of the republic.
Giuseppe Verdi, in his Inno delle Nazioni (Hymn of the Nations), composed for the London International Exhibition of 1862, chose Il Canto degli Italiani and not the Marcia Reale to represent Italy, putting it beside God Save the Queen and the Marseillaise.
In 1946 Italy became a republic, and on October 12, 1946, Il Canto degli Italiani was provisionally chosen as the country's new national anthem. This choice was made official in law only on November 17, 2005, almost 60 years later.
English translation:
Brothers of Italy,
Italy has awoken,
with Scipio's helmet
binding her head.
Where is Victory?
Let her bow down,[2]
For God has made her
Rome's slave.
CHORUS:
Let us join in a cohort,
We are ready to die.[3]
We are ready to die,
Italy has called.
Let us join in a cohort,
We are ready to die.
We are ready to die,
Italy has called!
We were for centuries
Downtrodden and derided,
because we are not one people,
because we are divided.
Let one flag, one hope
gather us all.
The hour has struck
for us to join together.
CHORUS
Let us unite and love one another,
Union and love
Show the people
The way of the Lord.
Let us swear to free
Our native soil;
United under God,
Who can defeat us?
CHORUS
From the Alps to Sicily,
Legnano is everywhere;
Every man has the heart
and hand of Ferruccio
The children of Italy
Are all called Balilla;
Every trumpet blast
sounds the Vespers.
CHORUS
Mercenary swords,
they're feeble reeds.
The Austrian eagle
Has already lost its plumes.
The blood of Italy
and the Polish blood
It drank, along with the Cossack,
But it burned its heart.
CHORUS