The Anthem Philatelist

Panama is an isthmus (a narrow strip of land enclosed by water on two sides), and it's anthem is entitled, appropriately, "Himno Istemño". The anthem was first performed by citizens in the streets on the day of independence in 1903, and was fully adopted as an anthem in 1925. Santos Amatriaim Jorge (1870 - 1941), composed the music for the Panamanian national anthem "Himno Istmeno". He was born in Peralta, Navarre, Spain in November 1870. After studying music at the Conservatorio de Madrid, he moved to the Isthmus of Panama in 1889 where he taught music. In 1892, he became the director of the military band of the Colombia Battalion. The lyrics of the Panamanian national anthem were written by Jeronimo de la Ossa . He was born in Panama City on April 9,1847 and died there in 1907. He was a romantic poet who studied civil engineering in Chile. He later represented the Panamanian consulate in Chile and worked for the France Canal Company. ...

"Pincez Tous vos Koras, Frappez les Balafons" (Pluck Your Koras, Strike the Balafons)is Senegal's national anthem. The "koras" (a harp-lute) and "balafons" (drums) mentioned in the anthem title are native instruments to this African nation, and can be used in the playing of the national anthem. The composer of the music. Herbert Pepper, also composed the music for the Central African Republic anthem, and the words were by Senegal's first president, Leopold Senghor. Léopold Sédar Senghor (9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who served as the first president of Senegal (1960–1980). Senghor was the first African to sit as a member of the Académie française. He was also the founder of the political party called the Senegalese Democratic Bloc. He is regarded by many as one of the most important African intellectuals of the 20th century. Léopold Sédar Senghor was born on 9 October 1906 in the sma...

In 1963, a delegation from Portugese Guinea (as it was then known, as a Portugese colony) visited China. After hearing a song composed by Xiao He , one of the independentist politicians in attendance, Amilcar Lopes Cabral, said that he would like that composer to compose a similar song to inspire the people of Portugese Guinea to strive for independence. Using African music as his inspiration, Xiao He composed the music, which became the anthem of Guinea-Bissau upon 1974 independence. Since Cabral's organization included both Portugese Guinea and Cape Verde, the anthem was also adopted by Cape Verde when their independence was achieved a year later. The two nations even proposed to merge, but this merger dissolved before it was realized, and a few decades later, Cape Verde subsequently adopted its own anthem. Amílcar Lopes Cabral (12 September 1924 – 20 January 1973) was an African agronomic engineer, writer, Marxist and nationalist politician. Also known by the nom de guerre Abel...

The words to "La Renaissance" were written by the nation's first president, Barthélémy Boganda and the melody was composed by Herbert Pepper , the same person who wrote the melody for the Senegalese anthem. The anthem was adopted for use in 1960. Barthélemy Boganda (4 April 1910 – 29 March 1959) was the leading nationalist politician of what is now the Central African Republic. Boganda was active prior to his country's independence, during the period when the area, part of French Equatorial Africa, was administered by France under the name of Oubangui-Chari. He served as the first Prime Minister of the Central African Republic autonomous territory. Boganda was born into a family of subsistence farmers, and was adopted and educated by Roman Catholic Church missionaries. In 1938, he was ordained as the first Roman Catholic priest from Oubangui-Chari. During World War II, Boganda served in a number of missions and after was persuaded by the Bishop of Bangui to enter pol...

The Barbados national anthem was adopted upon independence on November 30, 1966. The lyrics were written by Mr. Irving Burgie, a USC music scholar who also performed music under the name Lord Burgess. When Mr. C. Van Roland Edwards composed the Music for the National Anthem he was partly blind. Because of his partial blindness he was assisted in his work by his two daughters Nannette and Eullia. The music of the National Anthem of Barbados was composed by Mr. C. Van Roland Edwards who was partly blind at the time. Mr. Edwards who attended St. Peter's Church Boy's School was born in 1912 and had been writing music with no formal training. He was also a member of the British song society since 1933. Edwards wrote the Anthem for Barbados’ Independence in 1966 and was awarded $500 by the Government. He later died on April 22nd 1985. Other compositions by Van Roland Edwards include: The St. Andrew Murder, The G oodman Song,The Federation Song and Welcome to her Majesty the Que...

Amar Shonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal) is a 1906 song written and composed by the poet Rabindranath Tagore, the first ten lines of which were adopted in 1972 as the Bangladesh national anthem. The word shonar literally means 'made of gold', but in the song shonar Bangla may be interpreted to either express the preciousness of Bengal or a reference to the colour of paddy fields before harvest. The song was written in 1906 during the period of Bangabhanga (Bôngobhôngo - 1905 Partition of Bengal) - when Bengal was divided in two halves by the British government based on religion. This song, along with a host of others, was written to rekindle the unified spirit of Bengal. It is said that the music of this song was inspired by the Baul singer Gagan Harkara's song "Kothay Pabo Tare". The first 10 lines of this song constitute the national anthem of Bangladesh. It was adopted in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh. The English translation was done by Syed Ali Ahsa...

"March On, Bahamaland!" was selected as the winning entry in a national competition, and was adopted as anthem and official emblem on independence July 10, 1973. The winner of the competition was Timothy Gibson. As a former British colony and current Commonwealth realm, The Bahamas retains God Save the Queen as its "royal anthem" . Timothy Gibson composer, lyricist and educator was born in Savannah Sound, Eleuthera on April 12, 1903. He received his early education in Savannah Sound, worked as a monitor from the age of 11. At the same age he went to Arthur's Town, Cat Island, to join his brother, C. I. Gibson who was a head teacher and was given a job as monitor. He kept this post until he was 17. When his brother was transferred to Buckley's, Long Island he went with him and again worked as a monitor for one year. The following year he received a job as head teacher in Scrubb Hill, Long Island. He later came to Nassau as a student-in training at the Bo...

Belize , formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, composed of many cultures and speaking many languages. Although Kriol and Spanish are also widely spoken among the populace, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official language. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, Guatemala to the south and west, and the Caribbean sea to the east. Land of the Free is the national anthem of Belize. The words were written by Samuel Alfred Haynes and the music by Selwyn Walford Young in 1963. It was officially adopted in 1981. Samu el Haynes (1899-1971) was an African Caribbean Belizean soldier, activist and poet. He was a leader of the 1919 riot by Belizean soldiers who had fought for Great Britain in World War I and refused to accept racial discrimination at home. He also wrote the lyrics of a song named ""Land of the Gods" which later became Belize's national anthem, "Land of the Free". Al...

A Toast (Slovene: Zdravljica) is a famous poem by France Prešeren. It was written in 1844 and has been Slovenia's national anthem since September 27, 1989. The most famous is its 7th stanza, for which Stanko Premrl composed a choral composition with the same name. Only the text of the 7th stanza comprises the anthem of Slovenia. In form, the poem is a carmen figuratum because the shape of each stanza resembles a wine cup. France Prešeren (3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a Slovene Romantic poet. He is considered the Slovene national poet. Although he was not a particularly prolific author, he inspired virtually all Slovene literature thereafter. Today, Prešeren is still considered one of the leading poets of Slovenian literature, acclaimed not only nationally or regionally, but also according to the standards of developed European literature. Prešeren was one of the greatest European Romanticists. His fervent, heartfelt lyrics, intensely emotional but never merely sentiment...

37 minutes treadmill (5K)

Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy" ("Ukraine's glory has not perished") is the national anthem of Ukraine. The lyrics constitute a slightly modified original first stanza of the patriotic poem written in 1862 by Pavlo Chubynsky , a prominent ethnographer from the region of Ukraine's capital, Kiev. In 1863, Mykhaylo Verbytsky , a western Ukrainian composer and a Greek-Catholic priest composed music to accompany Chubynsky's text. The first choral performance of the piece was at the Ukraine Theatre in Lviv, in 1864. The song was first the national anthem of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Carpatho-Ukraine and later the independent post-Soviet Ukraine. Pavlo Chubynsky (1839 - 1884) was a Ukrainian poet and ethnographer whose poem "Shche ne vmerla Ukraina" (Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished) was set to music and adapted as the Ukrainian national anthem. In 1863 the Lviv journal Meta (The Goal) published the poem but mistakenly ascribed it to Taras Shevchenko. In t...

The national anthem of Turkmenistan is called the National Anthem of Independent Neutral Turkmenistan (sometimes also Independent, Neutral, Turkmenistan State Anthem, a literal translation from Turkmen). The lyrics were written by the first president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Turkmenbashi, Turkmen: Türkmenbaşy). Niyazov died on 21 December 2006, and two years after his death the Parliament adopted a law that changed some of the lyrics – all references to Turkmenbashi in the anthem were replaced with the people. Saparmurat Ataýewiç Niyazov (19 February 1940 – 21 December 2006) was a Turkmen politician who served as President of Turkmenistan from 2 November 1990 until his death in 2006. He was First Secretary of the Turkmen Communist Party from 1985 until 1991 and continued to lead Turkmenistan for 15 years after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He was known in English as Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov, the romanization of the Russian spelling Сапарм...

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 Mal...

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, d...

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 int...

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 sea...

" 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 n...

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 f...

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 a...

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 Ellic...

"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 ye...

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...