Spain's national anthem hard to sing -- it hasn't had words since 1975
MADRID -- For Spanish football fans it has long been a source of shame: with their side on the pitch, they are unable to sing the national anthem.
The problem is that the piece, known as the Royal March, has no official words. One set of lyrics was used during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, which ended in 1931. Schoolchildren then sang another during the four-decade dictatorship of General Franco.
When he died in 1975, his lyrics went with him, and no one has since been able to agree on new ones.
A generation of Spanish football fans have been condemned either to standing mutely or imitating the anthem’s brass bombast, using nonsensical sounds such as “chunda chunda ta-chunda chunda”. Schoolchildren have often filled the void with their own lyrics — not always to the liking of their elders...
The [conservative] Ermua Forum has decided to do something about the situation. [Its secretary] said that a panel of experts had written new verses for the anthem and planned to release them after next month’s local elections.
[T]he former Prime Minister, José MarÍa Aznar, had asked a group of poets to write some lyrics for the anthem during his Government. But the effort apparently foundered after no one agreed on a text.
“The worst thing you can do is ask a group of poets to agree on a verse,” Jon Juaristi, a writer and historian, who was part of the group, said.
[Times story includes two previous sets of lyrics.]
Read entire article at Times (of London)
The problem is that the piece, known as the Royal March, has no official words. One set of lyrics was used during the reign of King Alfonso XIII, which ended in 1931. Schoolchildren then sang another during the four-decade dictatorship of General Franco.
When he died in 1975, his lyrics went with him, and no one has since been able to agree on new ones.
A generation of Spanish football fans have been condemned either to standing mutely or imitating the anthem’s brass bombast, using nonsensical sounds such as “chunda chunda ta-chunda chunda”. Schoolchildren have often filled the void with their own lyrics — not always to the liking of their elders...
The [conservative] Ermua Forum has decided to do something about the situation. [Its secretary] said that a panel of experts had written new verses for the anthem and planned to release them after next month’s local elections.
[T]he former Prime Minister, José MarÍa Aznar, had asked a group of poets to write some lyrics for the anthem during his Government. But the effort apparently foundered after no one agreed on a text.
“The worst thing you can do is ask a group of poets to agree on a verse,” Jon Juaristi, a writer and historian, who was part of the group, said.
[Times story includes two previous sets of lyrics.]