"Advance Australia Fair" is the national anthem of Australia. Written by Scottish-born Australian composer Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed as a patriotic song in Australia in 1878. It replaced "God Save the Queen" as the official national anthem in 1974, following a nationwide opinion survey, only for "God Save the Queen" to be reinstated in January 1976. However, a plebiscite to choose the national song in 1977 preferred "Advance Australia Fair", which was in turn reinstated as the national anthem in 1984. "God Save the Queen" became the royal anthem, and is used at public engagements attended by the King or members of the monarchy of Australia. The lyrics of the 1984 version of "Advance Australia Fair" were modified from McCormick's original and its verses were trimmed down from four to two. In January 2021, the official lyrics were changed once again, in recognition of the long habitation of Indigenous Australians.
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacred choral work and still more particularly to a specific form of liturgical music. In this sense, its use began c. 1550 in English-speaking churches; it uses English language words, in contrast to the originally Roman Catholic 'motet' which sets a Latin text.
"God Save the King" is the national anthem of the United Kingdom and the royal anthem of each of the British Crown Dependencies, one of two national anthems of New Zealand, and the royal anthem of most Commonwealth realms. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, but an attribution to the composer John Bull has sometimes been made.
"Hey, Slavs" is a patriotic song dedicated to the Slavs and widely considered to be the Pan-Slavic anthem. It was adapted and adopted as the national anthem of various Slavic-speaking nations, movements and organizations during the late 19th and 20th century.
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European nations tend towards more ornate and operatic pieces, while those in the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, and the Caribbean use a more simplistic fanfare. Some countries that are devolved into multiple constituent states have their own official musical compositions for them ; their constituencies' songs are sometimes referred to as national anthems even though they are not sovereign states.
The "State Anthem of Turkmenistan", also known as the "National Anthem of Independent Neutral Turkmenistan", was adopted as the national anthem of Turkmenistan in 1996, then again with modified lyrics in 2008. The music was composed by Turkmenistani composer Veli Mukhatov, who also composed the music of the Turkmen SSR's regional anthem.
The "State Anthem of the Republic of Belarus", better known as "My Belarusy", is the national anthem of Belarus. It was originally written in the 1940s and adopted in 1955 for use in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The music of the Byelorussian SSR's regional anthem was composed by Niescier Sakałoŭski and the lyrics were written by Michas Klimkovič. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the music composed by Sakalowski was kept and the lyrics were discarded. New lyrics, which were written by Klimkovič and Uladzimir Karyzna, were adopted by a presidential decree issued on 2 July 2002.
The "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" is the national anthem of Russia. It uses the same melody as the "State Anthem of the Soviet Union", composed by Alexander Alexandrov, and new lyrics by Sergey Mikhalkov, who had collaborated with Gabriel El-Registan on the original anthem. From 1944, that earliest version replaced "The Internationale" as a new, more Soviet-centric and Russia-centric Soviet anthem. The same melody, but without any lyrics, was used after 1956. A second version of the lyrics was written by Mikhalkov in 1970 and adopted in 1977, placing less emphasis on World War II and more on the victory of communism, and without mentioning Joseph Stalin by name.
The "Sri Lanka Matha" is the national anthem of Sri Lanka. "Sri Lanka Matha" was composed by Ananda Samarakoon and was originally titled "Namo Namo Matha".
"Tautiška giesmė" is the national anthem of Lithuania, also known by its opening words, "Lietuva, Tėvyne mūsų", and as "Lietuvos himnas". The music and lyrics were written in 1898 by Vincas Kudirka, when Lithuania was still part of the Russian Empire. The fifty-word poem was a condensation of Kudirka's conceptions of the Lithuanian state, the Lithuanian people, and their past. Shortly before his death in 1899, the anthem was performed for Lithuanians living in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The State Anthem of the Tajik SSR was the regional anthem of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, adopted in 1946. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, this anthem was still in use until 1994 when Tajikistan adopted a new anthem with different lyrics but retained the same melody.
"Bilâdy, Laki ḥobbi wa fuâdy", also known by its incipit, "Bilady, Bilady, Bilady", is the national anthem of Egypt, composed by Sayed Darwish and written by Mohamed Yunis El Qadi. It was adopted in 1979.
Menıñ Qazaqstanym is the national anthem of Kazakhstan since 7 January 2006, replacing the "Anthem of the Republic of Kazakhstan", which was in use since its independence in 1991, but had the same melody as the anthem of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic.
Upon the independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union, the country resurrected national symbols that were used before the Soviet era. These included a flag of red and white stripes and a coat of arms consisting of a charging knight on horseback. These national symbols were replaced by Soviet-era symbols in a disputed 1995 vote. Those two symbols, along with the national anthem, are the constitutionally defined national symbols of Belarus.
"The ASEAN Way" is the official anthem of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The lyrics were written by Payom Valaiphatchra and the music composed by Kittikhun Sodprasert and Sampow Tri-udom. The anthem was the winning entry out of 99 finalists from all ten ASEAN countries in a competition held in 2008 to establish an official anthem.
A sign-on is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off, which is the sequence of operations involved when a radio or television station shuts down its transmitters and goes off the air for a predetermined period; generally, this occurs during the overnight hours although a broadcaster's digital specialty or sub-channels may sign-on and sign-off at significantly different times than its main channels.
"Fortress of Islam, Heart of Asia" is an Afghan mujahidin battle song composed in 1919 by Ustad Qasim. It was adopted as the national anthem of the Islamic State of Afghanistan from 1992 to 2006.
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