national anthems – OZTHOUGHTS

FIRST POST FOR AGES!!! WE ARE AUSTRALIANS – A SONG FOR US ALL.

Well, I have been silent for ages, chiefly because of Covid to be honest – Having been repeatedly in lock-down I haven’t really felt like writing anything much, as you may have noticed! But now I have come out of the other side of the whole sorry mess, and feel the creative urge again, so I shall write a post to celebrate “coming out of the other side” as one does!

So, what shall I write about? That is the burning question of the moment! And to which I shall have to spend some time contemplating so I shall stop writing just now and go and have a beer in the hope that Inspiration Will Strike.

Well on the point of National Anthems, both good and bad, I have recently heard what has to be the most amazing song that should be Australia’s National Anthem, rather than the dreary dirge that is actually Australia’s Anthem.

The words of this song, recognise that Australians come from all over the world, and also, in the first verse, recognise that the aboriginese were here first, a long time ago!!!

All the verses deal with one group of people who are Australians now, and also recognises in the chorus that Australians are made up of loads of nationalities – in the words of the song:-

“We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian”

This beautifully sums up how Australia is now, an amazing mix of races and nationalities, the whole world is represented in Australian culture now – even if a lot of British descendents feel that this is all wrong – rascists in other words. Like everywhere in the world, Australia has it share of rascists, sadly. But Australia is an amazing mix of nationalities, Asians, European, African, South Americans and so on.

Each verse of this song recognises a group who have created the Australia that now exists, from the infamous Ned Kelly through to Aboriginese via farmers and so on…. All the groups who have created the Australia we know today.

So, here are the words of this wonderful song, which definetly should be the Australian National Anthem, I shall bung the real one in later so that you can see how banal and dull it is.

‘I am Australian’ Song Lyrics

I came from the dream-time
From the dusty red-soil plains
I am the ancient heart
The keeper of the flame
I stood upon the rocky shores
I watched the tall ships come
For forty thousand years I’ve been
The first Australian

I’m the daughter of a digger
Who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman
On the long and dusty road
I’m a child of the Depression
I saw the good times come
I’m a bushie, I’m a battler
I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

I’m a teller of stories
I’m a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira
And I paint the ghostly gums
I’m Clancy on his horse
I’m Ned Kelly on the run
I’m the one who waltzed Matilda

I am Australian
We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We’ll share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian

And now here are a couple of versions of this song, the first one being a version sung in one of the aboriginal language………

And now the version sung by the Seekers, who wrote this amazing song.

And now, to show you what I mean about the current Australian National , Anthem, here is the “real thing”. This is to show you how awful the “real” thing is…………..

South African Anthem – Best In The World?

Generally national anthems are the most dreary and banal drones, not anything that anyone from another country would even consider to be music, let alone something that might move them in any way… Think of Britain’s awful dreary pean of praise to the House of Windsor – not even about the country – and you […]

However, a few countries have taken the trouble to give themselves national anthems that are not only a hymn of praise to their country, but also musically moving and powerful, and the best of these (to my mind) is the South African Anthem, which combines both a great melody (well two actually) and even has words that are not too awful.

Two Anthems In One.

As I mentioned above, the current South African anthem is actually made from two totally separate pieces, one that originated with black Africans, and was the anthem of the resistance to apartheid, the other was for many years the anthem of the white Dutch Settlers, and as part of the approach the South Africans took at the end of apartheid, they decided to simply join the two together and make that their new national anthem – Pleasingly gentle idea.

So, what were these two songs?

The first part of the current South African Anthem is ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika’ (God bless Africa) which was composed by a Methodist school teacher named Enoch Sontonga in 1897. He intended it to be simply a hymn to be sung in church, but it later became much more famous as a song of resistance to the apartheid policies of the white South African government.

Effectively becoming the alternative South African national anthem and was the song that the ANC sang at all their demonstrations and gatherings,

Here is a very powerful version, sung in Zambia by a whole slew of people who fought against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

See what I mean? That is one seriously powerful and moving piece of music.

The other part of the current national anthem of South Africa is rather less powerful, and to be honest, much more of a ¨classic¨ national anthem.

Continue reading “South African Anthem – Best In The World?”

National Anthems – The Good, The Bad And Awful

“National Anthems”, some are great and deeply moving, some are alright, but not really interesting, and most are simply dreadful. Banal words set to lousy, dreary “music”.

I was listening to what may well be the best national anthem ever conceived the other day and fell to wondering why so many were so bad. I have listened to dozens, read loads of more or less learned verbiage on the topic, but am not really any the wiser, except to note that both the words and music of most national anthems are put together very much on the cheap by people who have no obvious skills either as composers or as writers. This may be the simple reason.

So I thought I would have a serious look at some of them here, and play them to you to see what your thoughts on them might be. I shall start with ones that I consider to fall into the category of Great National Anthems, then have a look at a few that could be described as Acceptable National Anthems, and then, taking my courage in my hands, have a look at a few that come under the heading of God-Awful National Anthems.

Should be fun.

Great National Anthems:

As far as I am concerned, the South African National Anthem has to be the best, most emotionally powerful and uniting one. Conceived during South Africa’s dark days of Apartheid it brings together all the main language groups of that country, in a song that is both powerful, emotional and of course, patriotic in an acceptable manner. I will give you two versions of it, one recorded in a nearby country before the end of apartheid and the second at a rugby match once it had become the official anthem for South Africa. I think that both versions, in their differing ways, show what a national anthem should be remarkably well. Musically enjoyable, and also I believe the words are reasonable too, so here goes….. N’Kosi Sikeleli.

Now that is what I call one hell of a powerful national anthem!!!

That was recorded in Zambia, when it was obviously not possible to sing that song publically in South Africa, and now for the current version, but note how it still is able to invoke true emotion…

Continue reading “National Anthems – The Good, The Bad And Awful”