A trivia question for you: what national anthem has no official words? Hint: they were deleted after someone's death in 1975. Answer below the fold:
Spain. "La Marcha Real is the only national anthem with no official words. They were dropped in 1975, on the death of General Franco, with whom they were associated strongly in the public’s mind."
Addendum: An anonymous reader has pointed out that "Europe," the national anthem of Kosovo also has no lyrics (in order not to favor any ethnic group).
I knew this one. Spain =D
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing it was Franco's death?
Oh right... 'under the fold'.... got it >.<
ReplyDeleteI love that they thought the words to the national anthem were too nationalistic. Priceless. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother wordless national anthem is Kosovo's national anthem.
ReplyDeleteIt's titled "Europe" (imagine), and has been chosen to please the international organizations having a say in "building a multi-ethnic state" in Kosovo.
There are no lyrics in the natioanl anthem because the internationals didn't want to use any particular language, not to cross "ethnic lines"
Interesting. Thank you, anon. Info added to the post.
ReplyDeleteIt could also be interesting to see how many countries have no official national anthems.
ReplyDeleteSweden's often heard and hardly sung tune is not it's anthem. It was proposed to become the anthem way back, but the proposition didn't pass.
Yes, I'm one of those who visit rarely, but read dearly. =P
This is not true: our national anthem has never had lyrics. It's not true that people retired them after Franco's death, because there were no words in it to retire.
ReplyDeleteWell, yes, I mean no official lyrics. The unoffcial lyrics were (and still are) quite popular, and funny...
María (from Spain)
Kosovo's anthem with the idea of not crossing any "ethnic lines" is quite interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm from South Africa, with eleven official languages. Our anthem includes four of those languages.