Yesterday we looked at long, often-odd tale of
The Star-Spangled Banner; today, it's the much shorter history of "Nuestro Himno," that clever little riff on the original that has
Michelle Malkin and the PJ Media echo chamber in such a tizzy. If you'll follow me into the Cave of the Moonbat (you really ought to check it out: this is about as close to shouting "breaking!" as an historiorantologist gets), I've tried to compile a bunch of facts and links surrounding this song that everyone seems to have an opinion about, this swiftly-maturing cultural entity that was stripped of historical context before our very eyes.
So what's the story with "Nuestro Himno?"
"Our Anthem" was produced in 2006 (released April 28) by Adam Kidron, an immigrant from England who has resided in the United States for 16 years, under the auspices of his record label, Urban Box Office. Here's the link to the UBO website - "Nuestro Himno" will start playing a few seconds after the page opens; controls are in the box at the center top (the site also has a poll, if you care to weigh in). It is performed in a remix/hip-hop style by a group of Latin and Caribbean singers including Mexican diva Gloria Revi and reggaeton artist Wyclef Jean, and is included on the album Somos Americanos ("We Are Americans"). The album costs $10, with $1 of each sale going to support the National Capital Immigration Coalition.
Structurally, the song is reminiscent of "The Star-Spangled Banner," but it's no exact copy. The instrumentation contains little more than a snare drum and a classical guitar, and only in parts, when a particular stridency of cadence is achieved, do the songs sound like similar versions in differing languages. In other parts, one is reminded of 1985's "We Are the World," as different voices of obviously different genres contribute a line or two. In terms of respect for the original, there's a hell of a lot more in "Nuestro Himno" than what we got out of Rosanne Barr at a San Diego Padres game on July 25, 1990.
The heady days of 1919
Broadly speaking, there were two political camps in the US in 1919: those who would follow President Wilson into a New World Order, complete with a League of Nations, and those who quaked in fear (or joy) at the thought of working to prevent yet another destructive world war. In the end, of course, the nativists won the debate, but it wasn't until the 1920's that Klan membership and immigration quotas were where they wanted them; in 1919, the bully pulpit of the Presidency still belonged to the idealists.
The Bureau of Education, part of the Executive branch, in 1919 - same year as the ratification of the 18th Amendment, btw - released a Spanish translation of the "Star-Spangled Banner." They didn't publish "curriculum packets" with "teachable materials" on "diversity training" back in those days, but Wilson's interest in publishing an almost-direct translation entitled "La Bandera de las Estrellas" seems pretty clear. Here's the version on display at the Library of Congress:
La Bandera de las Estrellas - Spanish translation by Francis Haffkine Snow for the Bureau of Education, 1919
Amanece: ¿no veis, a la luz de aurora,
Lo que tanto aclamamos la noche al caer?
Sus estrellas, sus barras flotaban ayer
En el fiero combate en senal de victoria.
Fulgor de cohetes, de bombas es truendo,
Por la noche decian: "¡Se va defendiendo!"
¡Oh, decid! ¿Despliega aun su hermosura estrellada,
Sobre tierra de libres, la bandera sagrada?
En la costa lejana que apenas blanquea,
Donde yace nublada la hueste feroz,
Sobre aquel precipicio que elevase atroz,
¡Oh decidme! ¿que es eso quen la brisa ondea?
Se oculta y flamea, en el alba luciendo,
Reflejada en la mar, donde va resplandeciendo.
¡Aun alli desplego su hermosura estrellada,
Sobre tierra de libres, la bandera sagrada!
¡Oh asi sea siempre, en lealtad defendamos
Nuestra tierra natal contra el torpe invasor!
A Dios quien nos dio paz, la libertad, y honor,
Nos mantuvo nacion, con fervor bendigamos.
Nuestra causa es el bien, y por eso triumfamos,
Siempre fue nuestro lema: "¡En Dios confiamos!"
!Y desplegara asi su hermosura estrellada,
Sobre tierra de libres, la bandera sagrada!
link
So, "Nuestro Himno" isn't just a new version of the 1919 translation?
The lyrics of the song, represent a significant departure from those written by Francis Scott Key, especially after the first verse. Wikipedia has this to say:
The song's first verse is based very closely on a 1919 translation prepared by Francis Haffkine Snow for the US Bureau of Education. The only changes to the first verse from this version are a replacement of "no veis" ("don't you see?") with "lo veis" ("do you see it?"); "barras" ("bars") with "franjas" ("stripes"); and "Fulgor de cohetes, de bombas estruendo" ("the brilliance of rockets, the roar of bombs") with "Fulgor de la lucha, al paso de la libertad" ("the brilliance of struggle, in step with freedom"). However, subsequent verses diverge significantly between the 1919 and 2006 versions.
Here are the lyrics in both Spanish and English. This translation was found at the NPR website:
Lyrics to 'Nuestro Himno' ('Our Anthem')
Amanece, lo veis?, a la luz de la aurora?
lo que tanto aclamamos la noche al caer?
sus estrellas sus franjas / flotaban ayer
en el fiero combate / en señal de victoria,
fulgor de lucha, al paso de la libertad.
Por la noche decían: / "Se va defendiendo!"
Oh decid! Despliega aún / Su hermosura estrellada
sobre tierra de libres, / la bandera sagrada?
Sus estrellas, sus franjas, / la libertad, somos iguales.
Somos hermanos. Es nuestro himno.
En el fiero combate en señal de victoria,
Fulgor de lucha / (Mi gente sigue luchando)
al paso de la libertad / (Ya es tiempo de romper las cadenas.)
Por la noche decían: "!Se va defendiendo!"
Oh decid! Despliega aún su hermosura estrellada
sobre tierra de libres, / la bandera sagrada?
English translation:
It's sunrise. Do you see by the light of the dawn
What we proudly hailed last nightfall?
Its stars, its stripes / yesterday streamed
above fierce combat / a symbol of victory
the glory of battle, the march toward liberty.
Throughout the night, they proclaimed: "We will defend it!"
Tell me! Does its starry beauty still wave
above the land of the free, / the sacred flag?
Its stars, its stripes, / Liberty, we are the same.
We are brothers in our anthem.
In fierce combat, a symbol of victory
the glory of battle, / (My people fight on)
the march toward liberty. / (The time has come to break the chains.)
Throughout the night they proclaimed: "We will defend it!"
Tell me! Does its starry beauty still wave
above the land of the free, / the sacred flag?
Needless to say...
There are some folks who are quite worked up over this. I mentioned Malkin; here's another wingnut reminding us not to slack off in our vigilance during the ongoing war with the commies:
Those protesters marching in the street this May Day will be singing "My people fight on. The time has come to break the chains." "The Communist Manifesto," expressed a similar idea when Marx and Engles wrote, "Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains." "Nuestro Himno" is a communist anthem for illegal immigrant workers, not the national anthem of the United States of America.
A more rationale, but still pretty conservative, analysis of the lyrics can be found here.
Francis Scott Key has at least two living direct descendents. The BBC carried this report when one of the great-great grandsons, Charles, put in his two pence:
Fondling a copy of the original manuscript, (Key's) great-great-grandson Charles Key vents his anger: "I think it's despicable that somebody would go into our society from another country and change our national anthem!"
And, of course, on May 4, the Great Conduit through whom the liberal marching orders pass on their way from Barbara Streisand's ranch to us, Jon Stewart...
called the contreversy over the translation "unbelievably stupid," and suggested that that the first verse be kept in English, and that the other verses be given to "whoever wants [them]," because, as he put it, those are the verses "Americans don't want or won't sing."
link
Controversies and oddities past
This is not the first time the performance of the National Anthem has ruffled the feathers of American eagles and eaglets. Nor was Rosanne's abomination, for that matter. Nor was it Hendrix at Woodstock, nor Janis Joplin's screechy ragtime rendition. Really, the first fights over how much respect was due the song probably began on September 18, 1814 - the day after it was released as a broadside throughout Baltimore. Certain performances have raised some eyebrows over the years, however:
* Baltimore Orioles fans routinely overemphasize the "O" in "Oh say does that..." in support of their team; Atlanta fans pluralize the word "brave" at the end of the song.
* Fans of the Dallas Stars have pissed off so many people by shouting "Stars!" twice during the song that some venues (talkin' to you, Anaheim) won't play the National Anthem when Dallas is visiting.
* Much of the North American continent was presented to Wayne Gretzky during retirement ceremonies at his last game, in New York, April 18, 1999. There, the anthems of both the United States and Canada were illegally altered - presumably Malkin's interpretation, not mine - to reflect the following:
"O Canada, we stand on guard for thee" to "O Canada, we're going to miss Wayne Gretzky", and
"O'er the land of the free" to "O'er the land of Wayne Gretzky"
* As noted by Homogenius in the comments in the threads for last night's diary, the arrangements used during various Olympiads have caused controversy, as have various interpretations by composers ranging from Richard Wagner to Leslie Nielsen.
* Other languages into which the Anthem has been translated include:
German - Muller, 1861
1. O, sagt, könnt ihr seh'n
Bei der Dämmerung Schein,
Was so stolz wir begrüßten
In Abendroths Gluten?
Dess Streiffen und Sterne,
Durch Kämpfender Reih'n,
Auf dem Walle wir sahen
So wenniglich fluten;
Die Raketen am Ort
Und die Bomben vom Fort,
Sie zeigten bei Nacht,
Daß die Flagge noch dort.
O sagt, ob das Banner
Mit Sternen besäet
Über'm Lande der Frei'n
Und der Tapfern noch weht?
Latin - Brunelle, 1999
3rd Verse:
ubi nunc isti sunt
tam superbo voto
furiali pugna territos et clamore
esse nos cum terra
carituros domo?
caligata lues expurgatast cruore!
mercennarius et
servus effugiet
acherunta frustra nec servabit semet
et vexillum stellatum
vibrat in triumpho
libera in patria et in forti domo
and
Samoan - unk; via Wikipedia, citing The Samoa News
O Roketi mumu fa'aafi, o pomu ma fana ma aloi afi
E fa'amaonia i le po atoa, le fu'a o lo'o tu maninoa
Aue! ia tumau le fe'ilafi mai, ma agiagia pea
I eleele o Sa'olotoga, ma Nofoaga o le au totoa
Historiorant
"Nuestro Himno" is not - nor does it purport to be - "The Star-Spangled Banner" written in Spanish. It is a different song, with a different title, author, and context. Technically, there are two different debates going on here - one about the content of "Nuestro Himno and one about whether or not to take a cue from the Muslims and simply ban translations of our most sacred text - but that's the kind of nuance that's not going to survive past the first onslaught in an argument like this.
Others on this site have done a great job in pointing out President Bush's discomforation with the whole thing (one that was playing when I was starting this diary was by jsamuel, and there have been many more), and so I'll leave it to more contemporary-minded muckrakers to punditize the Preznit's options when faced with the perilous choice: cantar o no cantar?
And as for "Nuestro Himno" as a shot across the cultural bow of the Good Ship White Supremacy...well, American history is full of such things. Billie Holliday's "Strange Fruit" was the last word on lynching, Richie Valens changed his name but sang Mexican folk tunes in Spanish, the list goes on. Who knows? Perhaps there will come a time when a future President will look upon Adam Kidron the same way Abraham Lincoln regarded Harriet Beecher Stowe - as the person whose adventures in pop culture resulted in a great divisive war.
Then again, maybe not. What do you think?