National anthem in other languages? Heard this before

[wordsmythe]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm..._anthem06.html

By David Goldstein

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON — President Bush, Congress and anyone else upset over the Spanish translation of the national anthem might be interested to know that the U.S. government gave its blessing to a different version 87 years ago.

That translation of "The Star-Spangled Banner," prepared by the Bureau of Education in 1919, has been available on the Library of Congress Web site for two years without so much as a sniff of disapproval.

Besides Spanish, the library has vintage translations in Polish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Armenian, among others. A little Googling will turn up versions in Samoan and Yiddish, too.

With 6,800 known languages, who knows how many more are out there?

For all the outrage, two of three Americans don't know all the words to the national anthem, according to a Harris Poll. A lot of them don't even know the song.

Those who want to ban foreign-language versions of the anthem have their work cut out for them.

"What's sort of surprising for us here who've lived with 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is that everyone has their shorts in a bunch about it," said Loras Schissel, a musicologist at the Library of Congress. "It's old news."

Until last week, that is, when some Latino pop stars released a Spanish version with somewhat different lyrics ("The time has come to break the chains") called "Nuestro Himno," or "Our Anthem."

It landed in the middle of a heated debate over immigration. The song's producer and singers hoped to fire up the immigrant community. To critics, they might as well have torched a flag on the Capitol steps.

Musically speaking, the reaction was fortissimo. Once Spanish-language radio aired the song, talk radio, blogs and cable, along with members of Congress, reacted with outrage.

In contrast, the 1919 government-sponsored Spanish translation evoked a collective yawn, if anyone was paying attention.

"National airs and anthems were popular music at the time," Schissel said. "You bought them on 78 [rpm] records, and people sang them around the piano."

But the new Spanish version could become a political rallying cry.

"Symbols like the flag and the national anthem take on some sacred meaning on both sides in a controversy over national identity," said Yale University's Ron Eyerman, an expert on music and social movements.

Today, however, many critics insist the song should be sung in English. Period.

"The national anthem is a symbol of unity of a diverse people united by our common values and Constitution," said Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo. "That's why it should be sung in English."

Talent and Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., are among co-sponsors of a bill from Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., requiring that the anthem never be recited or sung in a foreign language. Rep. Jim Ryun, R-Kan., has a similar bill in the House.

Even pro-immigration groups such as the National Council of La Raza, the largest Hispanic civil-rights group in the country, said translating the anthem was a mistake.

"Anthems are sacred, and we have to be respectful of that," La Raza spokeswoman Lisa Navarrete said.

Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., has said the anthem "should not be lost in translation. ... The words, the phrases, the expressions — they all count for something irreplaceable."

But Jaime Contreras, chairman of the National Capitol Immigration Coalition, said the song could not be translated literally, and the new wording helps people make a "connection about the movement." It was not meant to offend anyone, he said, but as a tribute to the United States.

"When the president wants to run for office, he runs ads in broken Spanish and people don't feel offended," Contreras said. "It's like getting mad because somebody is trying to honor you."

[Flying Dutchman]

But Jaime Contreras, chairman of the National Capitol Immigration Coalition, said the song could not be translated literally, and the new wording helps people make a "connection about the movement." It was not meant to offend anyone, he said, but as a tribute to the United States.

"When the president wants to run for office, he runs ads in broken Spanish and people don't feel offended," Contreras said. "It's like getting mad because somebody is trying to honor you."

The problem was it was not meant as a tribute. It was, and is, meant as a defiant "slap" in the face. It does not honor this country, it is focussed (sic) and aimed at one group of people only to try and justify their being here. That is why it has caused as much outrage as it has.

The opening line is "Oh say can you see" meaning the pride in knowing we had not lost the battle. It is not "Jose can you see" meaning is it clear to run across the border.

[Detector]

I'm with FD this isn't just a "translation", as this poor excuse attempts to explain, but a clear slap in America face. Music appreciation 101. Although a song about the twin towers crashing down it itself would be no big deal pre-9/11, but would be of poor taste 9/12. Its like trying to pass themselves off as not criminals. No ones gonna buy this excuse either.

[Highwayman]

A Spanish translation national anthem of itself isn’t a big deal. I believe there are about four different versions and some change the meaning to suit the cause. After demonstrations with Mexican flags (including all the disrespect for our own), the years of bilingual everything that has worn thin on many of us and all the talk of reconquista, a bilingual anthem rings hollow and wasn’t the best of PR moves.

[TexKan]

There was already a translation in thier tongue of choice........ so what was wrong the 1919 version?................. It wasn't insulting enough nor commericial enough to get thier point made..........jackasses

When someone or some group insults my country and they are legal.......... I listen to it cause it's their "right" to do so. I think they are jack asses but I do listen.

When someone who slithered over here in the dead of night insultes my country with a rindintion of my country's anthem.......... it's not my shorts that are wadded up they need to be worried about................. it's what I'm packin in the wadded shorts that ought to worry them................

They are still jackasses............... and I don't have to give credit for thier already criminal behavior by saying it's OK............... it pisses me off that my tax $$ has to go to makin laws regarding this type of disrespect........... ICE otta give em a free ride to where they can sing in their own tongue........it's NOT here and never will be as long as my body is still warm...............