The National Anthem of Mali

Le Mali (popularly known as Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali – French: For Africa and for you, Mali or A ton appel Mali – French: At your call, Mali) is the national anthem of Mali. The words were written by Seydou Badian Kouyaté (stamp on the left) and the music was by Banzoumana Sissoko (stamp on the right). Adopted as the national anthem in 1962, its themes are patriotism, national, and African unity. It states the willingness of the people of Mali to lay down their lives for their nation and for liberty. A common theme throughout the song is the desire to strive for a united Africa. Its music is a traditional European style military march.

It was officially adopted less than a year after independence, in 1962. It is traditionally played at state ceremonies by the band of the Garde Républicaine of the Armed Forces of Mali. The Malian Young Pioneer movement of the 1960s translated the anthem in the Bambara language for its rallies.

Seydou Badian Kouyaté, born in 1928 was a Malian writer and politician. Born in Bamako, Kouyaté studied medicine at the University of Montpellier in France before returning to Mali. Under president Modibo Keïta, he wrote the words for Mali's national anthem, Pour l'Afrique et pour toi, Mali. In the Plan of September 17, 1962 he was named Minister of Economic and Financial Coordination; however, with the coup d'état of 1968, and the rise to the presidency of Moussa Traoré, he was deported to Kidal before being exiled to Dakar, in Senegal. Associated from its beginning with the Sudanese Union-African Democratic Rally, he was removed from the party in 1998 for having opposed part of its plan to refuse recognition to certain institutions participating in contested elections.

Kouyaté is also internationally known as a writer; even before Mali's independence, in 1957, he had published his first novel, Sous l'orage. This was followed by two other novels, Le Sang des masques in 1976 and Noces sacrées in 1977. In 2007 his novel La Saison des pièges was published.

Correia- Lyricist of the Anthem of Azores

The Azores are an autonomous province of Portugal, and have their own local, unofficial anthem- "Hino dos Acores" (Hymn of the Azores). The original song was composed by Joaquim Lima during the 1890s when the autonomy movement was growing. Originally without lyrics (yet several unofficial lyrics were penned to promote autonomy), the Azorean government asked Azorean poetess Natália de Oliveira Correia to compose official lyrics for the anthem. The government also adopted Teófilo Frazão's arrangement of the original melody as the official version of the anthem in 1980.

Natália de Oliveira Correia, (b. September 13, 1923 in Fajã de Baixo, São Miguel Island, Azores - March 16, 1993 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese writer, and was the author of the lyrics of Hino dos Açores, the traditional anthem of The Azores.

Correia was born in Fajã de Baixo near downtown Ponta Delgada, on São Miguel island in the Azores on September 13, 1923, daughter of Manuel de Medeiros Correia and wife, married in 1918, writer Maria José de Oliveira (Capelas, Ponta Delgada, May 26, 1892 - Brazil, January 1956). She had an older sister named Carmen de Oliveira Correia, unmarried and without issue. She moved to Lisbon when she was 11. She collaborated in the publication of various periodicals and was the deputy of the Portugues Social Democratic Party. She was one of the most important activists in the fight against fascism in her country, and a prominent defender of culture, human rights and womens' rights in particular. She is considered one of the most important figures in 20th century Portuguese literature.

Correia's deep affection for her native island's native beauty is demonstrated profoundly in the themes, images and symbols portrayed in her works, as well as by her association with contemporaries Antero de Quental and Vitorino Nemésio. She was much influenced by surrealism, Galician-Portuguese poetry, and mysticism, and her works span the spectrum from poetic romanticism to satire. She worked in many different genres: poetry, essays, theatre, and anthologies.

Correia participated in several political oppositional movements, opposing Estado Novo (New State) and supporting MUD (Movimento de Unidade Democrática in 1945). At one point, Correia spent three years in prison, under a suspended penalty, for the publication of a poem deemed offensive by authorities. In 1980 she was elected to Parliament as a member of the PPD (Partido Popular Democrático).

In 1991, Natália Correia received an award from Grande Prémio de Poesia da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores (Grand Premium of Poems of the Portuguese Writers Association) for her book Sonetos Românticos (Romantic Sonnets). In the same year, she was admitted to the Ordem da Liberdade and Ordem de Santiago.

Natália Correia died on March 16, 1993 in Lisbon. She was married four times, all of them without any issue: in 1942 to Álvaro Pereira, in 1949 to William Creighton Hyler, in 1950 to Alfredo Machado and in March 1990 to Dórdio Leal Guimarães (Porto, March 10, 1938 - July 2, 1997).

The National Anthem of Mongolia

The National Anthem of Mongolia was created in 1950. The music is a composition by Bilegiin Damdinsüren (1919 - 1991) and Luvsanyamts Murdorj (1915 - 1996), the lyrics were written by Tsendiin Damdinsüren (1908 - 1988).

Over the twentieth century, Mongolia had several national anthems. The first one was used between 1924 and 1950. The second between 1950 and 1962, and a third one between 1961 and 1991. Since 1991, most of the anthem of 1950 is used again, but the second verse (praising Lenin, Stalin, Sükhbaatar, and Choibalsan) has been removed. On July 6th, 2006 the lyrics were revised by the Mongolian Parliament to commemorate Genghis Khan.

Khatagin Tsendiin Damdinsüren (1908-1986) was a Mongolian writer and linguist. He wrote the text to one version of the national Anthem of Mongolia. Damdinsüren was born in Mongolia 1908, in what is today the Dornod Aimag (province).

As a young man, he was politically active in the Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League, where he was elected into the Central Committee in 1926, and eventually became an editor of its publications. Later he became the chairman of the Council of Mongolian Trade Unions and was involved in the collectivization and seizures . He joined the MPRP in 1932. In 1933 he continued his education in Leningrad.

After returning to Mongolia in 1938, Damdinsüren became an ally of Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal, the future Premier Minister and President. He promoted the switch from the vertically written classical Mongolian script to an adapted Cyrillic script. He was forced to do it as he was politically repressed and imprisoned and was threatened by capital punishment. Later he confessed abandonment of the Classical Mongolian Script as one of the mistakes of his life. Between 1942 and 1946 he was an editor for the party newspaper Unen(The Truth). In 1959 he became chairman of the Committee of Sciences, and between 1953 and 1955 he was chairman of the Writers Union.

Damdinsüren wrote poetry that was well received in Mongolia. He also produced prose and literary studies, and a translation of The Secret History of the Mongols into modern Mongolian. The language of his poems and prose were largely based on the oral literary traditions of Mongolia, which he developed into a classical language of the Mongolian literature of the 20th century. His novel Gologdson huuhen (The Rejected Girl) became one of the popular films of 1960s.

He created the first large Russian-Mongolian dictionary and wrote the text to the national anthem that was in use between 1950 and 1962, and in parts after 1991.

The National Anthem of North Korea

A year before the establishment of North Korea in 1948, the government of the then Soviet-controlled sector of Korea adopted a new anthem (the one in use at that time was the anthem of South Korea). Interestingly, not only does the music of the North Korean anthem sounds vaguely like the South Korean anthem's music, but they also share a title. There has also been a "united Korean anthem" created by blending the melodies of the two nations' anthems seamlessly, used by some to promote Korean re-unification. The lyrics of "Aegukka (Pattiotic Song)were written by Pak Se Yong and the music was composed by Kim Won Gyun. The anthem was adopted for use in 1947.

Kim Won Gyun, was a famous Korean composer, born in 1917 and died in 2002. He dedicated himself to the development of music and the training of reserve artists of the country with distinguished artistic talent. In his honor, the construction of Kim Won Gyun Pyongyang Conservatory was completed as a grand seat for musical education in the Songun era. The conservatory, another monumental edifice, covers a plottage of five hectares on the bank of the River Taedong. His bust can be seen in the main building.

The stamp above, issued in 1998, features the musical notation and lyrics of the North Korean National Anthem, the North Korean flag and the Tower of Juche.

The National Anthem of Sri Lanka

"Sri Lanka Matha" is the national anthem of Sri Lanka. The words and music were written by Ananda Samarakoon in 1940 in the Sinhala language, and was officially adopted as the national anthem on November 22, 1951 by a committee headed by Sir Edwin Wijeyeratne.

The first line of the anthem originally read: "Namo namo matha, apa Sri Lanka". There was some controversy over these words in the 1950s, and in early 1962 they were changed to their present form.

Ananda Samarakoon was born George Wilfred Alwis to a Christian family in Padukka, in Ceylon, on January 13, 1911 in Sri Lanka. In 1936, He had his primary and secondary education at Christian College, Kotte,presently known as Sri Jayawardenapura M.V.Kotte. His Sinhala Guru was Pandit D.C.P. Gamalathge. Later he served his Alma mater as a teacher of Music and Art. Samarakone left for Santiniketan in India to study art and music. After six months he abandoned his studies and returned to Sri Lanka, and changed his name to Ananda Samarakone, embracing Buddhism.

He was very much influenced by Rabindranath Tagore while in India and his fascination and the desire to imitate the great Indian musician would go on to take him in the direction of creating a musical tradition for the Sri Lankan people.

In 1937, the popular music of Sri Lanka comprised of songs derived from the North Indian Ragadhari music. These songs lyrics often contained meaningless phrases with little or no literary merit. Samarakone set out to create a form of a music that can be classified as Sri Lanka's own and came out with the song Endada Menike (1940) that paved the foundation for the artistic Sinhala music.

The love themed song unfolds in the form of a dialogue between a young village boy and a girl. It, poetic and beautifully rustic, became a success and Samarakone followed it with a string of successful songs in the early to mid 1940s, the period considered his golden age.

In 1945 Samarakoon's only son died at the age of five and the grieving Samarakoon left Sri Lanka for India where he pursued a painting career and held eleven art exhibitions there. Though his painting were critically acclaimed, he returned to music in 1951 back in Sri Lanka.

During Samarakoon's stay in India, one of his early compositions, Namo Namo Mata (composed in 1940, recorded in 1946) was nominated as the national anthem and was officially adopted by the State as the Sri Lankan national anthem in 1952. Critics attacked Namo Namo Mata, particularly the "Gana" significance of the introductory words (Namo Namo Matha) which designate disease and ill luck. Samarakone was not a believer in "Gana", and the criticism caused him to write numerous articles counter attacking his critics to defend his composition. However, without his consent, the introductory words were changed to "Sri Lanka Mathaa" so that the "Gana" significance now would designate victory and prosperity.

On April 5, 1962, at the age of fifty one, Samarakoon committed suicide by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets. Samarakoon's legacy lives on in his music and in the musical style he created.

The stamp above features the anthem composer Ananda Samarakoon issued in 1989

The National Anthem of Maldives

Until the late 1940s the state anthem of the Maldives was a melody with no lyrics. It was called the Salaamathi and was performed by the royal band on state occasions at the Etherekoilu, the official residence of the King.

In 1948 it was determined that the Salaamathi needed replacement with lyrics to accompany a new melody. The words were composed by a young poet and later a chief justice, Mohamed Jameel Didi.

Jameel Didi looked around for a tune to accompany his poem. His uncle, the chief justice Hussain Salahuddine, had just acquired a new-fangled clock that played an excellent tune at the stroke of midday, the Scottish folk song "Auld Lang Syne", and Jameel decided to use that tune for his poem.

Although the Salaamathi survived as the royal anthem until 1964, it did not occur to anyone to adopt it as the national anthem. In 1972, for the first time in history, the Maldives hosted a foreign head of state - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Maldive government of the time deemed it necessary to compose a different tune for the anthem instead. Hastily they commissioned the composition of a new melody. The new melody of the Maldive national anthem was composed by a distinguished Sri Lankan maestro, Pandit Wannakuwattawaduge Don Amaradeva. The original lyrics were used, with some changes to mark the fact that Maldives has been a republic since 1968.

Wannakulawattawaduge Don Albert Perera (born December 5, 1927 in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka), better known by his adopted name Amaradeva, is a Sri Lankan vocalist and musical composer. Primarily using traditional instruments like sitars, tablas and harmoniums, Amaradeva incoporates Sinhala folk music with Indian ragas in his work.

In the mid-1950s, Amaradeva in his Janagayana project consulted experts of the Kandyan dance tradition like Pani Bharata, Kiriganita, Gunamala, Ukkuva and Suramba in his path to understand what constituted Sinhala folk music. Noting that it mostly revolved around a single melody, he decided to add verses that would lead up to the central melody which would now be a chorus thus forming two parts (unseen earlier in traditional Sri Lankan music) removing restrictions that had existed earlier. In doing so, Amaradeva created a uniquely Sinhalese music style that stayed true to folk tradition while incorporating outside influences. His work was vital in the creation of the sarala gee genre practiced subsequently by artists like Victor Ratnayake, Sunil Edirisinghe and Sanath Nandasiri.

Pandit Amaradeva has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Philippine Ramon Magsaysay Award (2001), Indian Padma Sri Award and Sri Lankan "President's Award of Kala Keerthi" (1986) and Deshamanya Award (1998). He has also represented Sri Lanka in many forums including the UNESCO 1967 Manila Symposium, and composed the melody for the Maldives national anthem, Gaumii salaam, at the request of British Queen Elizabeth II in 1972.

The Olympic Hymn Writer

Kostis Palamas , (13 January 1859 — 27 February 1943) was a Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the co-founders of the so-called New Athenian School (or Palamian School) along with Georgios Drosinis and Nikos Kampas.

Born in Patras, he received his primary and secondary education in Missolonghi. In 1880s, he worked as a journalist. He published his first collection of verses, "The Songs of My Fatherland," in 1886. He held a position at the University of Athens between 1897 and 1926. He died during the German occupation of Greece during World War II and his funeral was a major event of the Greek resistance. It ended as a protest of a hundred thousand Greeks against Nazi occupying forces in Athens. Palamas wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras. It was first performed at the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games. The Hymn was then shelved as each host city from then until the 1960 Summer Olympics commissioned an original piece for its edition of the Games, but the version by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem in 1958 and has been performed at each edition of the Games since the 1964 Summer Olympics.

He has been called the "national" poet of Greece and was closely associated with the struggle to rid Modern Greece of the "purist" language and with political liberalism. He dominated literary life for 30 or more years and greatly influenced the entire political-intellectual climate of his time. Romain Rolland considered him the greatest poet of Europe and he was twice nominated for the Nobel prize for poetry but never received it. His most important poem ["The twelve lays (or words) of the gypsy]" (1907) is a poetical-philosophical journey. His "Gypsy" is a free thinking, intellectual rebel. He is a Greek Gypsy, in a post classical, post-Byzantine Greek world. He explores work, love, art, country, history, religion and science, keenly aware of his roots and of the contradictions between his classical and Christian heritage.

The stamp above is of the Olympic hymn lyricist, Kostis Palamas issued in 1960. Below, issued in 2007.

The National Anthem of Tuvalu

Tuvalu , formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji. It comprises four reef islands and five true atolls. Its population of 11,992 makes it the third-least-populated independent country in the world, with only Vatican City and Nauru having fewer inhabitants. It is also one of the smallest member by population of the United Nations. In terms of physical land size, at just 26 square kilometres (10 sq mi) Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world, larger only than the Vatican City—0.44 km²; Monaco—1.95 km² and Nauru—21 km².

The first inhabitants of Tuvalu were Polynesian people. The islands came under the UK's sphere of influence in the late 19th century. The Ellice Islands were administered by Britain as part of a protectorate from 1892 to 1916 and as part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony from 1916 to 1974. In 1974 the Ellice Islanders voted for separate British dependency status as Tuvalu, separating from the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati upon independence. Tuvalu became fully independent within The Commonwealth in 1978.

Also the national motto, the title of the national anthem "Tuvalu mo te Atua" or "Tuvalu for the Almighty", also appears on the nation's coat of arms. It was composed by Afaese Manoa and adopted as anthem upon independence in 1978.

The National Anthem of Angola

"Angola Avante" (Forward Angola), was composed by Rui Alberto Vieira Dias Mingao and written by Manuel Rui Alves Monteiro, and adopted as official national anthem in 1975.

During Portuguese rule, Angola had an unofficial local anthem, entitled "Angola é nossa" ("Angola is ours"), used by the Portuguese colonizers and European settlers in Angola, it was not performed after independence negotiations were started, and a different anthem, "Angola Avante" was adopted upon independence from Portugal.

There has been a commission appointed to study any possible changes needed in Angola's national symbols (there are references in the national anthem to important dates and events for the previous sole ruling party, made obsolete after multi-party elections were declared), thus the anthem may change in the near future.

The above stamp is a souvenir sheet containing the lyrics of the Angolan National Anthem issued 10 years after the anthem was adopted on November 11, 1985.

The National Anthem of Finland

Our Land, Maamme (Finnish), or Vårt land (Swedish), is the title of Finland's national anthem. There is no law on an official national anthem in Finland, but Maamme is firmly established by convention.

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.

The Tales of Ensign Stål were much appreciated throughout all of Scandinavia. Up until the time of Finland's independence in 1917–18, 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). It is also 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. There are also those who simply prefer Finlandia as a musical piece, although critics call it difficult to sing.

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 izāmō, min sindimō, My Fatherland, my native land.

The National Anthem of Liberia

Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. Liberia, which means "Land of the Free", was founded as an independent nation by free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans. Recently it has witnessed two civil wars, the Liberian Civil War (1989–1996), and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), that have displaced hundreds of thousands and destroyed its economy.

The national anthem of Liberia, "All Hail, Liberia Hail" was composed by Olmstead Luca in 1869. The words to the anthem of this second oldest independent African nation were written by the nation's third president, Daniel Bashiel Warner, and adopted upon independence in 1847. Presumably, the anthem first had a different melody, as the current music was written in 1860.

Warner, an African-American, was born on Hookstown Road in Baltimore County, Maryland to a father who was a farmer and ex-slave who acquired his freedom one year before Warner was born. Warner's date of birth is unclear. Some records show that he was born on April 19, 1815. However, American Colonization Society documents list him as age nine when he emigrated to Liberia, with eight relatives, on the ship Oswego in 1823.That would put his birth year as 1814.

A member of the Americo-Liberian elite, he also served as a member of the Liberian House of Representatives and Liberian Senate.In 1877, he became an agent of the American Colonization Society.

Warner's main concern as President was how the indigenous people, particularly the indigenous people in the interior, could be brought into society and become cooperating citizens. He organized the first expedition into the dense forest, led by Benjamin J. K. Anderson. In 1868, Anderson journeyed into Liberia's interior to sign a treaty with the king of Musardo. He took careful notes describing the peoples, the customs, and the natural resources of those areas he passed through, writing a published report of his journey. Using the information from Anderson's report, the Liberian government moved to assert limited control over the inland region.

The National Anthem of Norway

The words for the national anthem, written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, one of Norway's great dramatists and poets, were first published in 1859. The original poem had six verses; the first verse and last two verses are used nowadays as the anthem. The music was composed by Rikard Nordraak, cousin of Bjørnson and a friend of the famed Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, in 1864. It was first performed later that year for the 50th anniversary of their constitution, and caught on quickly. It became a part of the reading books in schools all over the country, and was sung by the children in the children's parades organized by Bjørnson on every 17th of May.

Rikard Nordraak was a Norwegian composer, born in Christiana (Oslo). He is best known for having composed the Norwegian national anthem. Nordraak's musical gifts became evident at an early age, but as for many other artists at that time, a different career was already planned. He was going to pursue a career within business, and when he was fifteen he was sent to business school in Copenhagen. Nonetheless his musical interests prevailed and instead of studying business he ended up studying music, and in 1859 he went to Berlin for advanced studies. After six months he had to return home and he continued studies in Oslo, and his first compositions came during the winter of 1859-60. In 1861 he went back to Berlin to continue his studies, and he stayed there for two more years.

The compositions that he himself marked opus 1, were published in 1863, and contained six songs with texts by the poet Bjornstjerne Bjornson, amongst others. At this time Nordraak also composed Ja, vi elsker, which in 1864 became the Norwegian national anthem.

He later wrote music for Bjørnson's play Maria Stuart of Scotland, and he published his Opus 2, Five Norwegian Poems, consisting of songs and poems by Bjørnson and Jonas Lie. This was the last of his compositions that would be published during his lifetime. In May 1865 he returned to Berlin to continue his education, but he was stricken with tuberculosis in October and died the following March, only 23 years old. Part of his life-story was dramatised in the musical Song of Norway.

Nordraak did not live long enough to produce much music. About forty compositions, mostly smaller works like songs, pieces for male choir and a few piano compositions, have been preserved. The biggest of these compositions, is the Scherzo Capricio for piano solo, given the opus number 3, published posthumously by Edvard Grieg. This is a kind of rondo, using several features from the Norwegian folk music; rhythms typical in slatter, and dissonances typical for the hardingfele. However, the thematic material does not have this connection with the folk music.

Nordraak’s main contribution to the Norwegian music history was, with his passionate patriotism and great love to the folk music, to be an inspiration for contemporary composers, such as Edvard Grieg. They met in Copenhagen and became close friends. When Grieg heard of Nordraak's death, he composed the famous Funeral March in Memory of Rikard Nordraak.