For example here in Finland, some people think that the current anthem “Maamme” should be replaced with Finlandia by Jean Sibelius

34 comments

  1. There is, at least online. Not sure about real life though.

    The problem is that our current anthem is solely about the Queen and mentions little about the actual country or its people and its history. As far as I know even totalitarian dictatorships don’t make their national anthem solely about their presidents.

    The other problem though is what would you replace it with. Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia are considered too jingoistic, while Jerusalem which is my favourite out of the three a) only mentions England and not the nation as a whole and b) has very explicit Christian overtones and wouldn’t really be an appropriate anthem for one of the world’s most irreligious countries, even if we don’t have official secularism.

  2. Not anymore, but around 1990/91, there was a debate whether the re-unified country should maybe mash up the two anthems, like singing the west-german lyrics to the east-german melody (or vice versa).

    And yes, it would have worked.

    I’m still in favour of just adopting the eastern anthem alltogether.

  3. Isn’t there’s also debate to change the law, to make “Maamme” to official national anthem? IIRC it’s only unofficial at the moment.

  4. No. I think the vast majority of Romanians like the national anthem. ( Desteapta-te Române).

  5. There’s no debate about the National Anthem.

    But there’s a small debate about the national flag. Some people think we should ditch the green and red, and bring back the blue and white from the times of the monarchy.

    It’s not a big number of people or anything, but this group has a lot of support online.

  7. As Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, God Save the Queen is the official anthem. However, if you ask anyone here, 99/100 would swear blind that it’s ‘Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau’ (Old Land of My Fathers) even though it is actually unofficial. I dont think it would even occur to anyone to play God Save the Queen at an event in Wales

  8. Not that I’m aware of. Aparently nobody’s really bothered by a song about a guy with German blood who says he honors the king of Spain

  9. In Poland some (including me) think that “Rota” would be a better anthem than the current “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego”. Rota tells the story of Poland’s hardships and hopes, while Mazurek Dąbrowskiego is about Polish forces that fought on Napoleon’s side in the Napoleonic wars.

  11. From time to time there are attemps to create lyrics to our anthem, since it does not has lyrics.

  12. There isn’t but that’s not a good thing. Our anthem is boring, about nothing but nature, and it’s from a play that everyone agreed was crappy, but for some baffling reason they chose the song as an anthem.

    The first two lines literally say “Where is my home? Where is my home?”
    You can imagine all the homeless jokes that caused.

  13. Yes. Quite a lot of people see “I Danmark er jeg født” as the unofficial national anthem, since it is just as well known. Some see it being better as well, since it is more about the individual opposed to the collective.

  16. There is/was a debate about removing religious things in our anthem. Some say they don’t want them removed because it “part of the original tradition” or something along those lines and the others say we should because religion has no place in an anthem. Personnaly I just think our anthem kinda sucks.

  17. I think I remember 10 or so years ago the Northern League in Italy wanted to change their anthem to Va, Pensiero. I love the Italian national anthem but Va, Pensiero is a pure 24 caret fucking banger!

  18. Oh, yeah. Our anthem is bloody AF and every once in a while people will come out against it.

    I don’t really like it either tbh, it’s way too focused on war. Other countries have Anthems that talk about how pretty they are, I’d like one of those.

    edit : also Finlandia by Sibelius is a badass piece, would make an amazing anthem.

  19. I remember once a politician suggested making it more gender neutral, replacing “Fatherland” with “Homeland” and “brotherly” with “courageous”.

    Thank god this didn’t catch on.

  20. There’s most certainly not a debate about what it shouldn’t be, i.e. Ireland’s Call the one that we use for rugby matches. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone suggesting an alternative to Amhrán na bhFiann, although some people say its lyrics are too militaristic.

  21. No real debate but some people don’t like how depressing it is. It’s all about how glorious the past was and now we’re punished by fate.

    Here’s the first verse in English

    >O God, bless the nation of Hungary
    >
    >With your grace and bounty
    >
    >Extend over it your guarding arm
    >
    >During strife with its enemies
    >
    >Long torn by ill fate
    >
    >Bring upon it a time of relief
    >
    >This nation has suffered for all sins
    >
    >Of the past and of the future!

  22. I think the Austrian anthem is fairly accepted, although to be honest I’m not that informed on people’s attitudes towards it across the country. But I’d say the majority is at least content with the current anthem, or better.

  23. Not in Czech republic.

    Which might be funny for foreigners, because our anthem is actually a song from the comedy play Fidlovačka.

    But it’s good enough for us because it’s ours. 🙂

  24. Currently don’t think there is any real debate, but [Saule, Pērkons, Daugava](https://youtu.be/sT8WenpR8NI) (Sun, Thunder ^((Pērkons is also an important god in Latvian mythology)), Daugava) was considered and is thought of as the unofficial second anthem

  26. Yes, in Latvia at around the 2010s there was signature collecting for a national anthem’s change from “God save Latvia” to “Sun, Thunder, Daugava”. Most of the arguments revolved around that “God save Latvia” was too religious and that it was too old. People also said that “Sun, Thunder, Daugava” was energetic and lifting. They didn’t collect enough signatures and the debate never had a referendum.

    Edit: There are a lot of songs considered unofficial, like [“Pūt Vējiņi” (Livonian folk song)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bevcg5SMJHo), [“Gaismas pils”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkPGcigpmGw), and as mentioned [“Saule, Pērkons, Daugava”, aka “Sun, Thunder, Daugava”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QtM_15nfJc)

  27. Here in the US there are those (me included) who think America the Beautiful would be a better national anthem. Nobody gets killed in it, and it’s easier to sing.

  28. I’m one of those people who think we should make Finlandia our national anthem, just because it’s so much better. It makes me feel things that ”Maamme” doesn’t quite do.

  29. Some people maybe want Bella Ciao (??) anyway it’s been officialised last year as the most important song after the anthem or something like that lol

  31. My parents always talk about at sporting events they Scotland and wales play their own national anthem while England plays the UK national anthem and they would prefer they play the English national anthem

  32. Some unionist politicians do not like current (traditional) one, because it is based (explains) a war that happened in the 17th century in which Catalonia fighted against Spanish troops and ended up declaring independence. And well, the song is somehow a little bit about «let’s be ready, just in case». An includes references to defend the land by the use of the force and so on.

  34. the Norwegian national anthem is “Ja vi Elsker” but pretty much everyone likes “Norge i Rødt, hvitt og blått” better. honestly don’t know why we STILL haven’t changed the official national anthem.

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