Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Azerbaijan

Music by Uzeir Hajibeyov (1885–1948). Words by Ahmed Javad (1892–1937). Adopted in 1992.

The words and music were written in 1919.

National anthems

Bahamas

Music and words by Timothy Gibson (1903–78).

This anthem was chosen from entries submitted in a national competition and was approved by the government of the Bahamas on 21 November 1972. It became the official anthem on 10 July 1973 when the country attained independence.

National anthems

Bahrain

Composer unknown. Words by Muhammad Sidqī ‘Ayyāsh (b 1925). Adopted in 1971.

National anthems

Bangladesh

Music and words by Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941). Adopted in 1972.

The anthem was written during the movement against the partition of Bengal effected by Lord Curzon in 1905. It was widely sung during the struggle for independence against Pakistan and was adopted as a national anthem by the provisional Bangladesh government in 1971.

National anthems

Barbados

Music by Van Roland Edwards (1912–85). Words by Irvine Burgie (b 1924). Adopted in 1966; before that God Save the King/ Queen was used.

National anthems

Belarus

Music by Nester Sakalowski (1902–50). Adopted in 1955.

The words, by Mikhas Klimkovich (1899–1954), to which this melody was originally sung are no longer in general use. From 1911 A chto tam idzie, with music by Ludomir Michał Rogowski (1881–1954) and words by Yanka Kupala, was used as the national anthem. Belarus became a Soviet republic in 1919. After it became independent again in 1991 two competitions for a new anthem were held, but without result.

National anthems

Belgium

Music by François van Campenhout (1779–1848). Original text by Hippolyte Louis Alexandre Dechet (‘Jenneval’; 1801–30) replaced in 1860 by another by Charles Rogier. La Brabançonne was written in 1830 during the struggle with Holland for Belgian independence. The Flemish population had as their own national anthem a setting by Karel Miry (1823–89) of words by H. van Peene, De vlaamse leeuw, composed in 1845. This was replaced in 1951 by a Flemish version of La Brabançonne.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E. Closson: Pourquoi La Brabançonne n’est pas devenue un chant populaire (Brussels,1928)

A. Vander Linden: ‘Le thème de la “Brabançonne”’, RBM, vi (1952), 285–6

A. Vander Linden: ‘Une Brabançonne inconnue’, Bulletin de la classe des beaux-arts de l’Académie royale de Belgique, xlix (1967), 208

B. Huys: ‘Historiek van de Brabançonne: haar editio princeps en andere vroege uitgaven’, Academiae analecta, xlviii (1987), 119–60

National anthems

Belize

Music by Selwyn Walford Young (1899–1977). Words by Samuel Alfred Haynes (1898–1971). Adopted in 1981 when the country became independent.

National anthems

Benin

Music and text by Gilbert Dagnon. Adopted in 1960.

National anthems

Bhutan

Music by Aku Tongmi (b 1913). Words, beginning ‘Druk tsendhen koipi gyelkhap na’ (‘In the kingdom of the thunder dragon’), by Gyaldun Dasho Thinley Dorji (1914–66). Adopted in 1953.

National anthems

Biafra.

See Nigeria.

National anthems

Bolivia

Music by Leopold Benedetto Vincenti (1815–1914). Words by José Ignacio de Sanjinés (1786–1864). Adopted in 1845.

National anthems

Bosnia-Hercegovina

Music and words by Dino Dervišalidović. Adopted in 1995.

National anthems

Botswana

Music and words by Kgalemang Tumediso Motsete (1900–74). Adopted in 1966.

National anthems

Brazil

Music by Francisco Manuel da Silva (1795–1865). Words by Joaquim Osório Duque Estrada (1870–1927). Adopted in 1922. The music was composed as a national anthem in 1831, on the accession of Emperor Dom Pedro II. The original text was replaced by the present one in 1922.

The first Brazilian anthem, O patria, o rei, o povo, was written and composed by Pedro I when he proclaimed himself emperor in 1822. It was also used as the national anthem of Portugal when Pedro I ascended the Portuguese throne in 1826. After the country became a republic in 1889 a competition was held to select a new Brazilian anthem, but the winning entry, by Leopoldo Miguez to words by Medeiros e Albuquerque, was not adopted and Silva’s was retained.

National anthems