Interesting Facts About Anthems

Greece: "Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν" (Hymn to Freedom) is a poem of as many as 158 (!) quatrains, but Greece adopted some 28 quatrains as the official anthem. Perhaps this will make life easier: in practice, no one performs 28 verses, but only the first 2.

Cyprus: Uses the same anthem as Greece

Brazil: during the Military Dictatorship, "Hino Brasileiro" was forbidden to be performed in any arrangement other than the official version. For example, the famous singer Fafa de Belem was condemned for an interpreted version of the anthem (you can listen to it, it's pretty good, but still I like the official version better)

Tunisia: The text of the anthem "Defenders of the Motherland" was taken from the verses of an Egyptian poet of Lebanese origin, except for the last lines.The previous Tunisian anthem was probably composed by the famous Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Russia: The words for all versions of the anthem in 1943, 1977 and 2000 were composed by one person — the poet Sergei Mikhalkov.

Moldova: The national anthem of Moldova is dedicated to celebrating the beauty of the Moldovan language. (Which is ironic, because the official language is Romanian)

India: The Indian national anthem is quite short: the performance takes less than a minute. However, the Indians went even further, and sometimes they perform only the first and last line, which takes only 20 seconds (compare with the Greek 158-line epic)

Czech Republic: Besides "Kde domov muj?" in pre-war Czechoslovakia, a German version was used - "Wo ist mein Heim?", but after the war and the resettlement of Germans to Germany, it was canceled.

United Kingdom: I think it's no secret to you that the British anthem changes depending on the ruler on the throne, and what significance it has. But imagine: at different times, its modified versions were used by Germany, the USA, Russia, Hanover, Siam...

Liechtenstein: and even this country.

Australia: Recently, in 2021, Australia replaced the word "young" in the line "For we are young and free" with the word "one" to take into account the history of indigenous Australians.

Kazakhstan: Despite the fact that the original text of the anthem was written by Zhumakan Nazhimedenov back in 1956, Nazarbayev, who changed several lines in 2006, began to be considered a "co-author" of the words of the anthem.

Bulgaria: Until 1990, the anthem "Mila Rodino" contained the following lines:

"As one, Bulgarian kins,

With Moscow то in war and peace

 Lead by great Party,

Moreover, among all the countries of the Eastern Bloc, he was the only one who somehow referred to the USSR.

Libya: After the overthrow of Gaddafi, Libya did the same with the anthem as with the flag — Libya returned the monarchical anthem. However, the name of the only king of Libya, Idris I, was replaced by Omar al-Mukhtar (this is the national hero of Libya, fighting against the Italians)

Hungary: The national anthem "Himnusz" was also performed during the times of socialism, however, without words because of religious references that did not converge with the party line.

European Union/Rhodesia: Such a strange couple who have only one thing in common — the EU and Rhodesia have adopted Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" as the official anthem. As usual, the connection is where it was not expected.

Laos:  The original anthem mentioned "Lao race" (sounds pretty), but after the establishment of communism, it was replaced with "Lao people" in order to take into account the rest of the Lao nations.

Ireland: In 1934, the Irish government had to buy the copyright to "The Soldier's song" for £1200 (now it would be £109,880).

Montenegro: During the Fascist occupation, "Oj, svijetla majska zoro" was used by both the fascist Puppet government and the partisans, the only difference is in the lyrics — it was completely different.

Ukraine/Germany: The expanded versions of the anthems of both mention Ukraine "from San to Don" and Germany "from Maas to Memel", but today neither the Don nor the Maas nor Memel belong to these countries, and San except for a small part is located in Poland

Turkey: The author of the words of the anthem, Mehmet Ersoy, initially refused to participate in the poetry contest because of a monetary reward, but the Turkish government invited him to nominate his poem and not receive money. He agreed. The award was eventually paid to the society of veterans.

Belgium: For the first time, the text of the future anthem was read out in the cafe Aigle d'Or (it means 'Golden Eagle').

Belarus, Tajikistan, Russia and Uzbekistan  took the melodies of the anthems of the USSR times, the other 11 republics took new anthems.

Philippines: The anthem can only be performed in Tagalog, performance in any other language is punishable.

Kenya: The melody of the anthem is taken from the children's song of Pokomo people.

German Democratic Republic: According to rumors, the words of the anthem were written so that they could be performed to the tune of "Deutschlandlied". And in fact, it is unlikely that this was done by accident.

Canada: Lyrics "Canada" in French were written 28 years earlier than lyrics in English. By the way, there is also an Inuktikut version — in Nunavut it is equal to the English and French versions.

Netherlands: The first letters of each stanza of the hymn "Wilhelmus" form the name Wilhelmus van Nassouwe

North Korea/South Korea: In the lyrics of the anthems of both countries there are the words "three thousand li" (li is a traditional measure of length in Korea). So, the Korean peninsula has a length of three thousand li. The hint of the hymns is pretty clear. By the way, in general, the content of the hymns is very similar, and even the name is the same, "Aegukka".

South Africa: After the abolition of apartheid, the anthem is sung in five languages: the first stanza is in Xhosa and Zulu, the second in Sesotho, the third in Afrikaans, and the last in English.

Nicaragua: In 1919 , a national anthem was adopted in Nicaragua with the words:

"Hail to thee, Nicaragua! On thy land

thy glorious bicolor banner."

Ironically, it was adopted during the American occupation and the guerrilla struggle against it, and after that a brutal dictatorship was established in Nicaragua, in the 60-70s there was a bloody Sandinista revolution, and in the 80s a civil war. In fact, the cannons, and not only, were fired for another 70 years after its adoption...