Life is grand

With regards to that anthem problem you are having. I would like to draw your attention to a little country on the southern tip of Africa who had a similar problem. Like you our country was divided and the national anthem was that of the now ousted ruling elite; the Afrikaaners and their anthem, Die Stem van Suid Afrika.

By in large the anthem’s contents were not offensive but by association it was. It had to be replaced after the democratic elections in 1994 and it was.

We resolved our problem in quite a surprising manner. The new black government chose an anthem that included stanzas from Die Stem and Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika. Instead of throwing out the old anthem completely they included the old and provided a continuity with the past.

The new anthem is very inclusive with 5 of our 11 official languages but it walks a very fine line and has been adopted by everyone.

regards,
Paul

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.