Spain drops its new national anthem lyrics
Planned new lyrics for the Spanish national anthem were ditched today after their content split the country.
Critics said the words merely served to highlight Spain’s right-wing past and did not reflect its cultural diversity.
Spanish tenor Placido Domingo was to have sung the new words to Spain’s centuries-old anthem later this month.
The anthem, a military march written in 1761, has been without lyrics since the last lot, approved by former dictator General Francisco Franco were dropped nearly 30 years ago.
The new ones were proposed by the Spanish Olympic committee who held a competition hoping to have them in place in time for this year’s Beijing games.
They received 7,000 entries, and a jury of six experts – including a musicologist, a historian, a composer and an athlete – settled on one as its official candidate.
The plan was to collect half a million signatures to seek formal approval in parliament.
However, controversy erupted after a newspaper last week leaked the lyrics, which begin with “Viva Espana” a phrase seen as an echo of Franco’s rallying call, and also ask Spaniards to “love the fatherland” – seen by some as a swipe at the culturally unique regions of Catalonia and the Basque country.
“For something as important as a national anthem of your country, we need to have consensus,” Domingo said.
“With so many great writers in Spain, I am sure a solution can be found.
“It is something I have always felt disappointed and frustrated about, if there is an important event, you cannot sing along.”
