The Anthem Philatelist

The National anthem of South Korea is called 'Aegukga' which literally means "The Song of Love for the Country". Even though Aegukga is sung as the national anthem, the song has not yet achieved official status. The music of the National anthem of South Korea was composed by Ahn Eaktay but there is no surety about who actually wrote the lyrics of the anthem. Some believe that the lyrics were written either by Yun Chiho, a politician or by An Chang-Ho, pro-independence leader and educator. The original lyrics of the national anthem was probably written around 1907 in order to boost a spirit of loyalty and independence, as the nation encountered threats of foreign assault. Over the years, the lyrics have been revised by various leaders and evolved into what is sung today. Initially the anthem was sung to the tune of the Scottish folk song, Auld Lang Syne, taught by the American missionaries. However, a Korean composer named Ahn Eak-Tai considered it inappropriate to u...

Naomi Shemer (1930-2004) - the most readily identified artist in the world of Israeli music following the establishment of the State. She wrote and composed hundreds of songs that became Israeli classics thanks to her wonderful integration of words and melodies. Her most famous song - " Jerusalem of Gold " - has become, in fact, a second "National Anthem" in Israel. Jerusalem of Gold" (Yerushalayim Shel Zahav) was written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. The original song described the Jewish people's 2000-year longing to return to Jerusalem; Shemer added a final verse after the Six-Day War to celebrate Jerusalem's unification under Israeli control. Naomi Shemer wrote the original song for the Israeli Music Festival on 15 May 1967, th e night after Israel's nineteenth Independence Day. She chose the then-unknown Shuli Nathan to sing the song. At that time, the Old City was under Jordanian rule; Jews had been barred from entering, and many holy sites had be...

With this 2010 stamp, the U.S. Postal Service honors Kate Smith , the celebrated singer and entertainer whose signature song, “ God Bless America ” (composed by Irving Berlin), has been called America´s unofficial national anthem. The stamp art duplicates artwork created for the cover of a CD titled “Kate Smith: The Songbird of the South.” The artwork was based on a photograph of Smith taken in the 1960s. Berlin originally wrote the song in 1918 while serving in the U.S. Army at Camp Upton in Yaphank, New York, but decided that it did not fit in a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank, so he set it aside. The lyrics at that time included the line, "Make her victorious on land and foam, God bless America..." as well as "Stand beside her and guide her, to the right with the light from above." Music critic Jody Rosen comments that a 1906 Jewish dialect novelty song, "When Mose with His Nose Leads the Band", contains a six-note fragment that is "instantly recogniz...

Louis Alexandre Dechet (Lyon, 20 January 1801 - Lier, 18 October 1830) was a French actor and is known as author of the text of the Brabançonne , the Belgian national anthem. His pseudonym was Jenneval , possibly named after the drama Jenneval, ou le Barnevelt français (1769) of Louis Sébastien Mercier. Dechet worked in Ajaccio, Marseille and in 1826 at the Paris Odéon. Via Rijsel he finally came to Brussels, where he played at La Monnaie. In 1828 he returned to Paris in order to work at the Comédie Française, but returned to Brussels immediately after the July Revolution in 1830. He there served with the city guard which was responsible for maintaining law and order. Dechet is said to have written the text of the Brabançonne during the first revolutionary gatherings at the café "L'Aigle d'Or" in the Brussels Greepstraat in August of 1830, shortly after the performance of the opera La Muette de Portici, which triggered the Belgian revolution. During the Belgian Revol...

The Hymn to Liberty (Ýmnos is tīn Eleftherian) is a poem written by Dionýsios Solomós in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas and is the longest national anthem in the world, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros . In 1865, the first two stanzas officially became the national anthem of Greece and later also that of the Republic of Cyprus. According to the Constitution of Cyprus, the Greek national anthem is used in the presence of the Greek Cypriot president (or other Greek Cypriot), and the Turkish national anthem is used in the presence of the Turkish Cypriot vice-president. Cyprus stopped using the Turkish national anthem, however, when Turkish Cypriots broke away from the Government in 1963. Hymn to Liberty was also the Greek Royal Anthem (since 1864). 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 Nation...

A prolific composer, Scottish-born Peter Dodds McCormick was moved to compose a national anthem for Australia when, having attended a concert of the world's anthems, there was no anthem for Australia. His original lyrics heavily emphasized Australia's ties to Britain (as Australia was a British colony at the time). Upon Australia's inauguration as a separate Commonwealth on January 1, 1901, the song was performed, but the British " God Save the Queen " was still the official anthem of Australia. At this time, the third verse of McCormick's original work was changed. While " Advance Australia Fair " remained popular with the people in the decades following, no official national anthem other than "God Save the Queen" was declared. In 1974 the Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a national opinion poll of 60,000 and in 1977 a plebiscite for a national song was conducted. On each occasion, Advance Australia Fair was the preferred option ...

The Manchu State (Manchukuo, Manshūkoku) was a puppet state in Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia. The region was the historical homeland of the Manchus, who founded the Qing Dynasty of China. In 1931, the region was seized by Japan following the Mukden Incident and in 1932, a puppet government was created, with Puyi, the last Qing emperor, installed as the nominal regent and emperor. In 1934, Manchukuo became an empire ("The Great Manchu Empire") and the new emporer, Henry Puyi (it was under his reign in China that the "Gong Jin'ou" anthem was written) comissioned a new anthem, " Mǎnzhōu dìguó guógē " (National Anthem of Manchukuo Empire) to be written by Zheng Xiao-xun , the same person who wrote the previous Manchurian anthem. The Japanese wished for the anthem to be translated into Japanese, so that both Chinese and Japanese could sing the anthem, but Zheng died in 1938. The new anthem was eventually adopted in 1942 and was in use until 1945. Th...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. The UAE consists of seven states, termed emirates, which are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah. The capital and second largest city of the United Arab Emirates is Abu Dhabi. It is also the country's center of political, industrial and cultural activities.    Before 1971, the UAE were known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman, in reference to a nineteenth-century truce between Britain and several Arab Sheikhs. The name Pirate Coast was also used in reference to the area's emirates in the 18th to early 20th century. The political system of the United Arab Emirates, based on the 1971 Constitution, comprises several intricately connected governing bodies.    Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language. The United Ar...

The first official anthem adopted by West Germany after founding in 1949 was the " Hymn an Deutschland " (Hymn to Germany). The "Lied der Deutschen" that was often used in Germany was avoided at this time due to the recent misuse of the anthem by the Nazi party (and the subsequent ban on the anthem by the Allied powers for the years following). The anthem proved to be unpopular with the people, however, possibly due to the similarity of a church hymn. The lyrics were written by Rudolf Alexander Schröder and the music composed by Hermann Reutter . The anthem was briefly in use from 1950 to 1952. Hermann Reutter was born in Stuttgart on 17 June 1900. In 1920 he moved to Munich. After three years of singing lessons with Emma Rückbeil-Hiller (Stuttgart) and Karl Erler (München) he studied at the Munich Academy of Musical Arts composition with Walter Courvoisier and piano with Franz Dorfmüller, and organ with Ludwig Mayer. Since 1923 he participated in the music fes...

When the Soviet Union was created in 1922 from a merger between Russia and other neighbouring soviet communist republics, the new national anthem that was in use was the " Internationale ", a socialist anthem written in the late nineteenth century by two Frenchmen, Arkady Yakovlevich Kots (lyrics) and Pierre Degeyter (music) This song was already in use as Russia's de facto anthem due to it being the party song of the Bolsheviks who seized power in the 1917 October revolution and, with Russia being the leading republic in the union, it was their anthem that would be used. "The Internationale" was never formally adopted by the Soviet Union as a national anthem (though it was formally adopted as the party anthem of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), yet was used on a de facto basis.   "The Internationale" has since been used by a variety of communist, socialist, and other left-wing groups as their anthem, making it the unofficial anthem of soc...

Stamps that have major, consistent, and unintentional deviation from the normal stamps are considered errors . Postage stamp errors are sometimes caused during stamp printing process. Error stamps do not show the intended appearance of the desired stamp design. There are factors that cause postage stamp errors like wrong denominations, wrong or missing colors, misplaced or an inverted design element, missing parts of the stamp design, wrong stamp paper, wrong watermark, double impressions, and others. Color error postal stamp occurs when stamp is printed with wrong color(s) or one or more color is missing. These color error postal stamps usually occur when one stage of a multi-run printing process is skipped. One example of this type of error is the stamp above featuring the national anthem of Uruguay. A gold color on the edge of the score of missing. Click this to compare with the error-free stamp. The error increased the value of the stamp 100x.

The Coat of Arms of the Czech Republic displays the three historical regions which make up the nation. The arms of Bohemia show a silver double-tailed lion on a red background. It is repeated in the lower-left-hand side of the coat of arms (from the perspective of the person holding the shield). The Moravian red-and-silver chequered eagle is shown on a blue background. The arms of Silesia are a black eagle with the so-called "clover stalk" in her breast on a golden background, although only a small south-eastern part of the historical region of Silesia now belongs to the Czech Republic. The history of Czech coat of arms is dated to the 13th. century and this crest was a meed from the king of Holy Roman Empire to czech king Vladislav II. The shield is also used as the badge for the Czech national football team and Czech national ice hockey team. The stamp above showing the coat of arms of Czech Republic with the score of the national anthem was issued on October 14, 2009.

Brazil's anthem was originally composed in 1822 (the year of independence) and first performed in 1831. During the imperial period (1822-1889) and for the first few years of the republican period thereafter, the anthem was performed without words. After becoming a republic in 1889, it was often suggested among the republican groups in the country that a new anthem should be adopted, as the current anthem was composed during the imperial era, yet the anthem that had been in use ws declared official on January 20, 1890. The anthem was still without official words, and each state started adopting their own words to the anthem. In 1906, it was brought forward that lyrics for the anthem should be written, and in 1909 a poem by Joaquim Osório Duque Estrada was composed. However it wasn't until 1922, for the 100th anniversary of independence, that Osório Duque Estrada's poem was adopted, with several changes to the text. Brazil, like many other "federalist" nati...

Prince Alexei Fyodorovich Lvov (June 5, 1799 in Tallinn–December 28, 1870 in Romainiai (now Kaunas) was a Russian composer. He composed the Imperial Russian national anthem Bozhe, tsarya khrani (also known as God Save the Tsar). He wrote the opera Undine in 1846. He was entombed in the Pažaislis Monastery, Kaunas (Lithuania).   Lvov was born into a family which was keenly interested in music. He was the son of Feodor Petrovich Lvov, who was Maestro of the Imperial Chapel in St Petersburg from 1826 to 1836 (having succeeded Bortnianskij).   Alexei Fyodorovich began violin lessons at a very young age and performed regularly in concerts given at his home: for instance, at 9 he was the soloist in a performance of a violin concerto by Viotti. Although he had a number of teachers in his youth, from the age of 19 onwards he began to study independently, seeking to develop his own personal style through careful attention to the works of such celebrated violinists as Corelli, Tarti...

Did you know that some anthem lyrics were taken from the actual words of Jesus Christ ? An example of this is the local anthem now in use on Norfolk Island (under Australian administration), Come Ye Blessed , also referred to as the "Pitcairn Anthem". This hymn was brought to the island by the Pitcairn settlers, suggesting that this anthem was in use on Pitcairn Island at that time. It's lyrics are directly quoted from the New Testament of the Bible ( Matthew 25:34-36, 40 ).   My favorite bible verse is taken from Galations 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.   The other one is from Matthew 6:3-4, But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”   Also, ...

Check out these three anthem stamps- something's not right in the picture. Stamps from Nicaragua containing the score of France's La Marseillaise ? Italian stamps with the score of Poland's national anthem and a stamp from Mexico featuring the national anthem of the Dominican Republic ? Stamps of national anthems are usually issued by the country who owns the anthem, but not in this case. These are real anthem stamps containing the score of the national anthem. To my knowledge, Nicaragua has not even issued a stamp of its national anthem. Italy has issued a stamp of its anthem lyricist, Goffredo Mameli , but not an anthem score. The Dominican Republic is one of the few countries that has issued several anthem stamps (at least 3, I think). I really don't know the reason why these countries featured the national anthem of other countries. Please email me if you know why or if your have other anthem stamps not featured here.

In 1979, the national anthem of Togo was replaced with one written collectively by members of the ruling party Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais. (The anthem might also have been the anthem of the party as well.) The anthem was changed back to the original one in the early 1990s, around the same time that democratic reforms were put in place under Western pressure and a new constitution permitted opposition parties. The anthem was in use until 1979.   Originally adopted on independence in 1960, the " Salut à toi, pays de nos aïeux " (Hail to thee, land of our forefathers), the present national anthem was replaced in 1979 and readopted in 1992, when Western-mandated reforms were brought in and one-party rule dropped. The music and lyrics were written and composed by Alex Casimir-Dosseh .   Alex Casimir Dosseh is a prominent musician from Togo. He was born on August 16, 1923 in Vogan. He had his music education in Europe and his composition, "Hail to thee, Land of our...

The Philippine National Anthem lyrics has three versions- "Filipinas", the Spanish (original) version, written by Jose Palma , "Lupang Hinirang" the Tagalog version, written by Felipe Padilla de Leon and "Philippine Hymn", the English version, written by Camilo Osias . Presently, only the Tagalog or Filipino version is used. José Palma (3 June 1876 - 12 February 1903) was a Philippine poet and soldier. He was on the staff of La Independencia at the time he wrote his "Filipinas," a patriotic poem in Spanish. It was published for the first time in the issue of the first anniversary of La Independencia on 3 September 1899. The poem fit the tune of the music of the Marcha Nacional Filipina, and since then became the national anthem of the country. Palma was born in Tondo, Manila, on 3 June 1876, the youngest child of Don Hermogenes Palma, a clerk at the Intendencia Office, and Hilaria Velasquez. His older brother was Rafael Palma. After finishin...

" Hej Slaveni " was composed in the mid nineteenth century by a Slovak in response to the loss of cultural identity in his homeland. Taking inspiration from the Polish anthem (which the melody is almost identical to), he composed an anthem that soon became popular with the whole Slavic community, in fact becoming the anthem of Slovakia during World War II (with Slovak words).    Being a confederation of mainly Slavonic states, the song seemed to be a natural fit for post-royalist Yugoslavia. It was sung at the first meetings of the resistance movement (later, the government), and became the temporary national anthem upon the re-establishment of Yugoslavia after the Axis defeat. A search was undertaken for a permanent anthem, but "Hej Slaveni" remained the most popular choice with the citizens; it was declared the temporary anthem in 1977, and was finally made official in 1988.   After most of the members of the Yugoslav federation had declared independence in the 1...

Prussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history. The last capital of the state of Prussia was Berlin. The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians, a Baltic people related to the Lithuanians and Latvians. In the 13th century, "Old Prussia" was conquered by the Teutonic Knights. In 1308 Teutonic Knights conquered the formerly Polish region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk (Danzig). Their monastic state was mostly Germanized through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south it was Polonized by settlers from Masovia. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) Prussia was split into the western Royal Prussia, a province of Poland, and the eastern part, since 1525 called Duchy of Prussia, a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prus...

Denmark is one of a handful of nations which have a separate "royal" anthem from the people's "national" anthem. The royal anthem is one of the oldest in the world; adopted in 1780. Special events for the royal house are marked with the royal anthem.   The lyrics first appear in Johannes Ewald 's historical drama "The Fishermen" and specifically names heroes in the wars against Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries. The composer of the anthem is unknown.   Denmark is also unique in that it and New Zealand are the only two nations in the world with two official national anthems. Officially, " Kong Christian " is both the national and royal anthem and has equal status with " Der er et yndigt land ", the national anthem.   Johannes Ewald (18 November 1743 – 17 March 1781) was a Danish national dramatist and poet. Ewald, normally regarded as the most important Danish poet of the 2nd half of the 18th Century, led a short and t...

The most expensive national anthem sheet currently auctioned on the net is the sheet from Argentina which is an uncut x 4 anthem and flag essay with current value of US$2,500. Its is extremely rare and is a must for serious collector's. It surpassed the 1934 Czechoslovakia national anthem sheet which now cost around US$100-400. The Argentine National Anthem (Himno Nacional Argentino) is the national anthem of Argentina. Its lyrics were written by Vicente López y Planes , and the music was composed by Blas Parera . This song was adopted as the national anthem on May 11, 1813, three years after the "May Revolution" (Revolución de Mayo); May 11 is therefore Anthem Day in Argentina.

Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 1770 – 26 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He was the most crucial figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music, and remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time. Some regard him as the "Greatest Composer of All Time". Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and a part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in present-day Germany, he moved to Vienna in his early twenties and settled there, studying with Joseph Haydn and quickly gaining a reputation as a virtuoso pianist. His hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. The stamp above (part of a set of four featuring Beethoven, Bach, Haydn and Mozart) was issued by China on August 2010.

" Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika " ("God Bless Africa" in Xhosa), is part of the joint national anthem of South Africa since 1994, which was originally composed as a hymn by a Methodist mission school in Johannesburg teacher, Enoch Sontonga in 1897.   For decades during the apartheid regime it was considered by many to be the unofficial national anthem of South Africa, representing the suffering of the oppressed. In 1994 after the fall of apartheid, the new President of South Africa Nelson Mandela declared that both "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" and the previous national anthem, "Die Stem van Suid-Afrika" ("The Voice of South Africa") would be national anthems.    While the inclusion of "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" rejoiced in the newfound freedom of many South Africans, the fact that "Die Stem" was also kept as an anthem even after the fall of apartheid, signified to all that the new government under Mr Mandela respec...

Used by the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War of 1931-1939, " Himno de Riego ", written during the 19th century, had been a popular patriotic song since it was written, including at the outbreak of the war. The anthem was named after Rafael de Riego, a general during the first Spanish Civil War (1820-1823). The anthem was also used briefly at the conclusion of that war (from April 7, 1822 to 1823 on the restoration of the monarchy.) The words were written by Evaristo de San Miguel , a Spanish noble, military man and historian. The music was composed by Francisco Guerta. The anthem was subsequently banned by Franco, who led the campaign against the republican forces in the civil war and who led the country following their defeat. The postal card above features the score of Riego's Anthem

Wage Rudolf Supratman (Wage Roedolf Soepratman or commonly known as W.R. Supratman) was born on March 9, 1903 in Jakarta and died on August 17, 1938 due to sickness in Surabaya , East Java.   He was an Indonesian songwriter. He wrote and composed the national anthem of Indonesia, " Indonesia Raya " in 1927 and officially adopted in 1949. The song 'Indonesia Raya' was performed for the first time on October 28, 1928, at the closing ceremony of Youth Congress II held in Indonesia. His father named Senen, was a sergeant in the 8th Battalion. Under the tutelage of his brother in-laws, WM Van Eldik (Sastromihardjo), he had learnt to pluck the guitar and fiddle the violin. In 1914 he went to Makassar to study Dutch at the Normaalschool, a night school. His education was financed by Willem Van Eldik. and he stayed there for three years.  After finishing his education, he bacame a teacher in Angka and got his Klein Ambtenaar certificate two years later. He formed a ...

Until 1931, there was no officially proclaimed anthem of the United States , however, the song " Hail Columbia! " was used quite often in the capacity of a national anthem. Other songs which were prominently used during the 19th century for a national anthem was "The Star Spangled Banner", and, to a slightly lesser extent, "Yankee Doodle" and "My Country, 'Tis of Thee", which has the same tune as the British national anthem. Written by Joseph Hopkinson for the inauguration of the United States' first president, George Washington, it was most popular in the first half of the 19th century, culminating with Lincoln's presidency. The music was composed by Philip Phile. By the start of the 20th century, it had fallen out of favour, and in 1931 " The Star Spangled Banner " became the first officially proclaimed national anthem of the United States. "Hail Columbia!" is used today in the United States as an entrance song ...