The Unmade Podcast - Special: Honduras v Mauritius national anthems

Episode Date: December 15, 2018

The national anthems of Honduras and Mauritius go head-to-head. Hover - register your domain now and get 10% off by going to hover.com/unmade - promo code UNMADE at checkout - https://www.hover.com/Unmade Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://redd.it/a6f9al USEFUL LINKS Honduras - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras - Wiki page includes anthem embed Mauritius - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritius - Wiki page includes anthem embed Honduras anthem - the vocal version we listened to - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr-02bkQSrg Mauritius anthem - the vocal version we listened to - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toBsqRgEckI Honduras Anthem - lyrics and history - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anthem_of_Honduras Mauritius Anthem - lyrics and history - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherland_(anthem) Amigos para Siempre by Sarah Brightman & José Carreras - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsvVzAn_qlI

Hey everyone, you might remember in a very recent episode, Tim and I discussed an idea which was like a World Cup of national anthems. You'd pit two countries' anthems head-to-head, a face-off to see which one was better, the winner progressing to the next round and the loser falling by the wayside. Was this a good idea? I don't know. There's only one way to find out. We've made a little pilot version of it to see what it sounds like, and you're about to hear that right now. All right, we're putting two national anthems head-to-head today to decide which one we like better,

and today it is the national anthem of Honduras and the national anthem of Mauritius. Honduras in Central America. You've been to Honduras before, Tim? No, no. Although I do have a friend that's had some connection there. I think he was raising money for some aid program related to Honduras or something like that. That's many years ago and I'm sketchy on the details, but that's probably the only time the context I've heard it mentioned in conversation. I know nothing about Honduras, really. I'm very, very ignorant. I haven't even got a friend who's been there that I'm aware of. Their national anthem is called

Himno Nacional de Honduras, which I think maybe just means the national anthem of Honduras. It's in Spanish and I've got the lyrics to it here in Spanish, but I don't think either of them are going to do us any good. So we are going to read some of these in English and our apologies if the translation means some of the poetry and the beauty of that is lost, but that's the way it's going to be. Now, before I play it, do you want to hear a few lines from it? Shall I tell you a few of the lyrics? It seems to me at a glance that this national anthem,

much like the US national anthem, is very much about their flag. So the Honduras flag, for those who don't know what it looks like, it's got two blue bars, one across the top, one across the bottom, and a white bar in the middle. And on the white bar in the middle are five stars, kind of shaped like an H. I don't know if that's a coincidence or not but anyway some of the lyrics in this anthem your flag is a splendor of sky crossed with a band of snow and there can

be seen in its sacred depths five pale blue stars in your emblem which a rough sea with its wild waves protects behind the bare summit of a volcano. A star brightly shines. Let's have a little listen to what this sounds like. Should we listen to some instrumental first? Do it. All right. Here's a little bit of instrumental from the Wikipedia page. first impressions well the one thing that strikes me is that so many anthems, in fact, I've never heard an anthem that isn't, performed by a brass band. Yes. I would love to hear an anthem in more traditional instrumentation or more modern, like with a massive electric guitar solo. But perhaps Honduras and Mauritius aren't the countries to give us that.

Yeah, you do feel like there should be like a president standing on a balcony and some kind of military parade happening beneath as usual. It does sound very national anthemic. It does. I think that's going to be a bit of a theme. It says here on Wikipedia, the national anthem of Honduras is a result of a contest carried out in 1914 during the presidency of Manuel Bonilla.

In the end, it was the poet Augusto Coelho that ended up writing the anthem with German-born Honduran composer Carlos Hartling writing the music. The anthem was officially adopted on the 15th of November 1915 during the presidency of Alberto de Jesus Membrano. The anthem is composed of a choir and seven strudanuran. I don't even know what that word is.

I don't know it either. I don't know what that is. We're showing our ignorance very quickly here. Shall we have a little listen to it with actual singing? Here we go. This is not so brass band in this version I found here on YouTube. So let's see what it sounds like as the singing begins. What are you thinking?

Oh, Will, I love his voice. And this is Spanish, yeah? Yeah, he's feeling it, that guy, isn't he? He is, he loves it. Yeah. I mean, I don't speak Spanish, but I was obviously, I heard the bit about the volcano and the five stars. It's interesting that it's about the, give me some more lyrics.

It's about the flag and the glory of the flag and what the flag represents. It moves on from the flags later though. Like an Indian maiden you were sleeping, lulled by the resonant song of your seas when set in your golden valleys the bold navigator found you and on seeing enraptured your beauty and feeling your enchantment he dedicated a kiss of love to the blue hen on your splendid mantle wow and then we get back to the flag here we get a chorus again and then we get to guard this sacred emblem we shall march oh fatherland to our death our death will be honored if we die thinking of your love having defended your holy flag and shrouded in its glorious folds

many Honduras shall die for you but all shall fall in honour. Oh, wow. So many anthems, of course, have militaristic kind of overtones to them and that's reasonably common, isn't it? And the glory and the love of the country. But it's quite poetic. Yeah. It's hard to make a few little funny quips about National Anthem when they've just talked about all the people dying for the honour of their flag.

So let's hear a bit more of the anthem. So, did you say before it has like verses and then a chorus again? Yeah, I think the chorus comes back a couple of times when you look at the way it's written. That's really different. Most anthems that I'm more familiar with have kind of one or two stanzas that go through and there's maybe a line that they come back to as a theme.

But the idea of, okay, now let's go back to the chorus. You know what I mean? That's a really different. Second verse, same as the first. Yeah, there we go. Honduras National Anthem. Let's listen to a little bit more instrumental because that's how you would hear it at the Olympics.

Yeah. I like the way it moves through the gears, you know. It lulls you into a false sense of peace and then it gives you a bit of, come on, let's do this. Yeah, yeah. I think I still favour the voice. It sounds so beautiful. Yeah, you like a bit sort of the crooner version, do you? I do.

I do very much. Particularly you sing all that metaphorical and analogous language that goes through of the country and the love and the discovery and all that. It suits his voice, I think. I like that a lot. I know it's in Spanish and not Italian, but that version where he's singing it in Spanish sounds like it should be a song being sung at like a wedding in the Godfather or something. The song for me that came to mind, and this may come to mind for Spanish-speaking nations,

is the 1993 Olympics theme song. Oh, 92, Amigas Parasembre. Oh, yeah, by Jose Carreras. Yeah. And what's her name? Is it Sarah Brightman? Yeah, Sarah Brightman. Yeah, Andrew Lloyd Webber's ex-wife now, I think. I thought that was a fantastic song.

And in terms of Olympic songs, I think that's probably the best I've ever heard. I think you're right. I think that is the gold standard of Olympic songs. Okay, there's Honduras. Let's go on to the rival. Remember, we're going to have to make a decision here between these two. Just a very quick break, people, to tell you about today's episode sponsor, which is Hover. If you've got an idea, either an idea now or maybe something for the future,

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Mauritius. Let me have a look. Do you know what? I don't even know what the national language of Mauritius is. Let me have a look. I've never been to Mauritius either. This is a lovely island nation in the Indian Ocean off to the east of Africa and east of Madagascar.

I know lots of friends who go. It's a lovely holiday destination apparently. All right. Lovely resorts and things like that. Let me have a look what I can find out about Mauritius. The national languages are English and French. All right. Okay. So, the national anthem in English is called Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. Star and Key of the Indian Ocean. I like that.

Let's have a little listen to some instrumental first. I'm liking this a lot. This is good. I love the drum roll. My dad was in a brass band when he was young, a Salvation Army band, and he was the snare drummer and he would do a bit of pretty mean drum roll on that. There was always one of those hanging around the house when I was young, a Salvation Army band, and he was the snare drummer, and he would do a bit of pretty mean drum roll on that. There was always one of those hanging around the house when I was a kid and I'd forever be practising to try and do a really nice drum roll,

so I appreciate that element of it. I hope that survives into the singing version. All right, let me tell you a little bit about the lyrics. I've got the lyrics here in English. It's quite a short one, this one. Glory to thee, motherland, O motherland of mine. Sweet is thy beauty, sweet is thy fragrance. Around thee we gather as one people, as one nation,

for peace, justice, and liberty. Beloved country, may God bless thee ever and ever. Yeah? Interesting. Short and sweet. I don't know whether I like or don't like that it doesn't bring a lot of like historical stuff to the table in terms of this is who founded us and this is who we fought and this is who we defeated. They're just kind of like, hey hey man, we've got like a beautiful little island here and

keep us safe and bless us. Well, this is interesting about the national anthems because some of them are a bit of a geography lesson. Like Australia just goes on and just talks about the geography and others adhere more directly to the monarch and others talk about the military. And that one just seems to, it seems to be all metaphorical in love language. Maybe shades of the French coming through and the mention of liberty too. Yeah.

I wonder. Yeah, you're right. You're right. I'm assuming it's sung in French, maybe by default or first. Let's have a listen to it with lyrics. As one people, as one nation, in peace, justice and liberty In a world and dream they don't rest Forever and ever

That's nice. That sounds like the final fanfare of a fantastic musical. You know, it's like everyone's come together at the end and there's a wonderful celebration. I have an issue with it, Tim. Oh. I feel a bit like the words don't fit the music and like they're having to sort of change the cadence

or the way that they're saying the words to fit the music. Like, you know how sometimes when you try and put different words to a song and they don't fit you, like, you know, hello, my name is Tim Hine and I will like, I feel like it doesn't fit and they're having to change their pace in an awkward way. I don't know what the musical term for that is because I'm a very unmusical person. But when I heard it with the lyrics, I don't know if it's usually sung

in French or English. Well, that was interesting. I didn't like the dropping of the drum. I couldn't hear the drum roll. The drums were a real feature for my appreciation earlier. Snare drum. Let's just have a little listen again and see if we can point out some of those places where I don't think it's quite working for me.

It's okay so far. It's sounding a little bit like a church hymn for my taste. Maybe that's just because it's being sung by a group of people. I don't know. And church hymns I often think sound like they're like when you look at the words and then you hear the music, the way people make the words fit the music, I always think aren't quite a perfect fit. Well, a lot of the hymns were designed.

They're quite simple and common tunes like bar anthems in a way. And a lot of the hymn writers would pack their theology, their Christian writing to fit those, so that they were easy to sing. It's funny that we think of hymns as being old and obscure, because they were written for the common person to all join in together and sing quite simply. This has that feel though, doesn't it? Let's continue. And I think we're coming up to the points where I think it starts struggling a bit more. Around thee we gather. I don't know, it just isn't quite. I don't know, maybe I'm being unfair. Maybe it does fit.

I don't know. There's a TV show in Australia called Spicks and Specks and they used to have a competition on it where people would be given like a novel, an obscure old novel, like an Agatha Christie mystery and then the name of a tune and they had to sing the lyrics from the book to the tune of the song, and their teammates had to try and guess what it was. So you've forever got that, you know, the end of the melody

comes halfway through a word, and so a bit like what you're alleging is going on in the Mauritius anthem. Let's go back maybe to the instrumental version, which you liked so much, and see if the drums bring it back for you. Yeah, that's good. I do like the ending. I like the ending as well. Yeah.

What are those lyrics of the ending again? Let me remind myself. Beloved country, may God bless thee ever and ever. Hmm. All right. So we have to make a decision here. I think I'm going to go with the second one. I like the Mauritius, to be honest.

I like the Honduras. I like them both. They're very both anthemic. There's no, you know, massive diversion from the genre here. Yeah. No electric guitars, nothing like that. No mouth organ suddenly appearing halfway through. But I think because the drums get me on. Yeah.

For the music-wise, certainly the drums get me for Mauritius. Maybe the lyrics more with Honduras. I don't know. Hedging my bets a little bit there. All right. Well, just a little bit more history, by the way. I've got this little bit of information. I think this is from the Mauritius government.

Again, it was a competition, an open competition for the composition of the lyrics of the National Anthem of Mauritius was launched in 1968. The award went to the entry forwarded by the well-known Mauritian poet Jean-Georges Prosper, MBE. The lyrics were subsequently set to music by Philippe Gentil, MBE, violinist, trumpeter and saxophonist of the police band. The National national anthem remains the property of the government of the Republic of Mauritius. That does kind of flesh out what I was saying, doesn't it? It very much feels like the two were written independently.

One thing I'm interested to know, because both of these are from the 20th century, I wonder if anthems are quite a recent phenomena and whether there are any anthems that go, I'm sure, does God save the Queen? Well, perhaps in that episode we'll come to discover what the earliest anthem is that's still being used today actively. That is a good question. So, Tim, your vote has gone to Mauritius.

I have to say, all things being equal, I may have just leaned to Honduras, but not by very much. And because you seemed, I feel like you had a bit more confidence about your decision with Mauritius and there's only two of us to vote and there's no casting vote. I think we're going to have to go with Mauritius. I feel like you had a firm decision. I was a little bit on the fence, probably would have tipped to Honduras if forced, but I'm going to go with your decision in this case. So the national anthem of Mauritius goes through to the next round. We don't know who they'll be taking on yet, but they are our winner today.

Sorry, people of Honduras. We still like your anthem. We did like their anthem. I did like it. And perhaps the lyrics even, I thought, are slightly better. Certainly longer and more expansive. They're more evocative too, probably the lyrics of Honduras. I mean, the other thing to bear in mind, Tim, is if the tourist commissions of these two countries hear this podcast

and decide to offer us a free holiday, I think Mauritius is where we want to be. I would be blessed to visit both countries. Absolutely. I think going all in on Mauritius is probably the smart play though. I think they've got the nicer resorts. Honduras has some quite spectacular natural holidays, I think, but I can't see either tourist commission listening to the podcast.

No. No, we're giving up purely on merit, not on where we want to go on a holiday. I'd be pumped to go to Honduras. Next week, the Maldives. It would be great to go visit and then as soon as you hear the anthem, you'd be like, I know this, I know this. Yeah, imagine that. Imagine going on a holiday to like Mauritius and they play the anthem

and you just start singing it. Like, yeah. It just comes up. Your fragrance. Halfway through. I love the second verse. Yeah. Oh, I love this bit about the fragrance.

Sweet is thy beauty. Sweet is thy fragrance. That's a bit of music. It is very romantic, the Mauritius ones, aren't they? They seem more poetic, romantic. They got the win. They got the win. It is very romantic, the Mauritius ones, aren't they? They seem more poetic, romantic. They got the win. They got the win. That's what matters.

It doesn't matter how beautiful it is. They can only be one winner, unfortunately, and they've done it. They can only be one winner. They can only be one winner.