Posted by admin on 08 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: anthems, events
If you’ve been around here before, you’re probably aware that I hate most national anthems. I’ll make an exception for South Africa’s “Nkosi Sikeleli Africa”. For one thing, it features four different languages, and most importantly of all, it’s not a call to arms.
Posted by admin on 18 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: anthems, events, news, politics
There were red faces galore the other night at the Swiss TV channel SRG during the Germany-Austria Euro 2008 match. Someone had the bright idea of subtitling the national anthems. Unfortunately, that someone was using an outdated lyric book, as the German anthem came with the words, “Deutschland, Deutschland Uber alles… (Germany over all)”. Yep, [...]
Posted by admin on 23 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: anthems, news, politics
If you’re a regular reader, you are probably aware that I have come to the conclusion that most anthems are dark, mean-spirited affairs. When they’re not calling for the spilling of blood (Ireland, France), they are stomping on other people (like the infamous sixth verse of “God Save the Queen”). It looks like someone in [...]
Posted by admin on 19 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: anthems, meanings, news, politics
I always thought that national anthems were ancient texts passed down from generation to generation and sung with pride. As the recent news in the UK has shown, they can still be works in progress. And now Spain is at it, struggling to find lyrics that fit the national psyche. There is a simple reason [...]
Posted by admin on 06 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: anthems, meanings, news
Maybe I should start a tag just for national anthems. They seem to be be regularly in the news. The BBC reports that there are moves to rewrite some of the lyrics to the UK’s “God Save the Queen”. I must admit that I don’t sing it much myself, so I never noticed that there [...]
Posted by admin on 06 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: anthems, meanings, news, politics
National anthems are, on the whole, a bloodthirsty genre. It’s funny that while debate rages around violent or pornographic songs and video games, we still stand up to shout (I can hardly say sing) encouragements to kill, seek revenge, conquer and ethnically cleanse. If you think I’m exaggerating, I invite you to check the anthems [...]