Best National Anthem?

[Veles]

All national anthems in the world sound equally pompous and well... European. Traditional motiffs are rarely used. And this souldn't be the case in my opinion.

Example:

What Irish anthem is like


Link to video.


What it should be


Link to video.

 

[Tee Kay]

All national anthems in the world sound equally pompous and well... European.

Yes, in a way. Anthems from different regions do have their own feels though. Latin American anthems are typically operatic, Arab anthems forceful marches with a hint of Arab folk music, and so on.

It depends largely on how the anthem is played. Western orchestral arrangements do make all anthems sound similarly European.

Egypt's is a good example. Here's the Olympics orchestral version.


Link to video.

Here it is the way it is supposed to be sung.


Link to video.

 

[BlueRed]

Link to video.

Great National Anthem without lyric.

 

[Takhisis]

No, just no.

 

[7ronin]

The best national anthem is the French followed by the Russian. Japan has a nice national anthem which has the advantages of being very short and seldom sung. The U.S. anthem is too hard to sing. It has only been the official anthem for 90 years; maybe it's not too late to change or maybe it's time to change. There are better and more rousing songs available.

 

[Tee Kay]

Americans, don't listen to this guy above me. Keep your anthem. It's awesome.

 

[Takhisis]

It's not, it's horrible.

 

[carmen510]

The EZLN anthem is pretty good, if you can ignore the fact that it's not "national".


Link to video.

 

[Danielion]

It's not, it's horrible.

The one with new lyrics sucks even more:

Link to video.

Slightly worried about Spain...

 

[7ronin]

Americans have been wanting to change the national anthem as long as we've had one. Something like eighty per cent of us are satisfied with the Star Spangled Banner. The other twenty have apparently had their fill of embarassing celebrity karaoke at public events. The song most favored to replace the incumbent is America the Beautiful.

 

[Takhisis]

Why not compose an anthem and be done with it?

 

[Veles]

-----

 

[Thorgalaeg]

The one with new lyrics sucks even more:

Link to video.

Slightly worried about Spain...

Me too.

 

[7ronin]

Why not compose an anthem and be done with it?

That's always a possibility. Someday someone might just write a song that becomes so patriotically popular that it has to be the new anthem.

Then again.... Several years ago they had a contest here to write a song for our city. Something to rival iconic songs such as Chicago or New York, New York or San Francisco that would inspire the natives and wow the tourists. They had 200 songs submitted by amateurs and internationally known professionals alike and they were all crap.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, that happened with Flower of Scotland.

 

[Tee Kay]

Bumping 'cause I just had a proper listen to Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (Wales) and goddamn it it's good.

It's up there with Lofsöngur and God Save New Zealand as my favourite ones now.

TV version with montage:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

And in a stadium:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I'm surprised the best of all has not been mentioned yet: China's "The East is Red"
The anthem begins at 5:40 and ends about 9:00


Link to video.

It certainly tops the soviet one.

 

[Takhisis]

*detects someone being wrong on the Internet*
The best anthem has already been posted, I'll simply post another version to drive the point home.


Link to video.

 

[Commodore]

As a citizen of the Unites States I must say I have always been partial to the Canadian national anthem.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

The Kenyan national anthem is by far and away the best I've ever heard. It sounds like the theme to a Conan film or something, really epic. Don't know if it's already been posted in the thread or not.