I actually began the musical aspect of Part 1 "Homeland" by researching the national anthems of other countries, starting with the book of scores and texts "National Anthems of the World," at the UNCA Library November 1st 2007. I was curious to look at other nations' musical choices, and especially to see others' texts (in English translation). I wanted to see which anthems were as battle-centered as ours (have you ever looked at the full four verses of Star Spangled Banner?), and - conversely - which anthems were slanted instead towards a more generalized "love of homeland" (as in "America The Beautiful," perhaps?).
I was charmed by quite a few of the anthems, and began jotting down musical and textual phrases from Australia, Austria, Costa Rica ("Noble country, your beautiful flag/ Expresses to us the story of your life/ Beneath the clear blue of your sky/ Lies the pure whiteness of peace..."), Philippines, South Africa, Estonia (whose deeper story I stumbled upon much later, see "The Singing Revolution" links at the bottom of this page), and The Czech Republic (whose text begins with the beautifully reflective question "Where is my home?").
I will link (below) to each of the anthems I ended up using. But first, a few observations:
1) It might seem as if national anthems have just "always been there" but in fact they are for the most part a very recent phenomenon.
2) Everyone has a "land of birth/ homeland," but the connection of music per se to the sense of "homeland" varies widely from culture to culture, and while some nations may use their own folk-derived melodies to compose national songs, many nations have ended up with musical settings that were essentially borrowed from other (perhaps even colonial) cultures. The story of South Africa's evolving anthem (see link below) is a case in point. And Star Bangled Banner was set to an eighteenth-century British pop-song/ drinking-song, not to any specifically "American" music.
3) Attempts to translate foreign anthems' lyrics are often numerous and varied, ranging from the "possibly-literal but unintelligible" to the "lovely but apparently rather free." (I ended up using some reference-book translations which vary slightly from the versions most frequently posted online)
4) National anthems are not necessarily static. Four interesting cases in point:
Spain, which after Franco was so "reminded of bad things" by the Franco-era lyrics that they declared their national anthem would have NO lyrics, and would just be instrumental. The news story right now is that as of January 2008 they have adopted lyrics once again, for their long-standing melody, a newly written text specifically referencing "democracy and peace." I must say - had these lyrics existed on November 1st when I began researching anthems, I would almost certainly have included excerpts in "Homeland Suite!" Here is English translation of these brand-new lyrics:
Long live Spain!
We sing together,
with different voices,
and only one heart.
Long live Spain!
From the green valleys,
to the immense sea,
a hymn of brotherhood.
Love the Fatherland,
which knows how to embrace,
below the blue sky,
people in freedom.
Glory to the sons,
who have given to history,
justice and greatness,
democracy and peace.
Another example: South Africa, from which I excerpted portions of their pre-1994 text, now has a national anthem IN FIVE LANGUAGES, including phrases in three distinct indigenous tongues, as well as in Afrikaans, and in English! (see link below). This was done specifically to symbolize the end of the Apartheid era.
Another example: Australia has repeatedly held contests to try to let popular vote choose among submitted possibilities for a worthy national anthem. There was a point when Waltzing Matilda was seriously proposed as their national anthem. They seem to concede that in the world of Olympics and Football (soccer), "one must indeed HAVE a national anthem," but there continues to be lively public debate throughout Australia over whether what they have right now is really "good enough"... (and here in America there are still some who - for both musical and textual reasons - might have preferred something other than Start Spangled Banner, which was officially declared the national anthem in 1931 - yes, 1931)
And The Czech Republic: The old Czech national anthem was of course forbidden during the fifty years of their Stalinist/German/Soviet subjugation, but was triumphantly reinstated in 1991. They are a land of choral singing, and it meant a lot to them to win back the right to sing their own song in their own language. (see link below)
Times change.
My own approaches to USING these anthems in "Homeland Suite" was to extract phrases of text and introduce them at first with their true music but then proceed to treat them with increasing musical/ compositional/ harmonic freedom. So for example:
my reference to the Czech anthem (Where is my home?") is exact for the first four measures but then begins to alter the music under the still-exact (one of many possible translations of the) text, in my own musical version of "text painting" to intensify the dramatic lyrics;
the Estonian anthem ("My native land, my pride and joy") also is exact for the first four measures and then my music subtly alters under the still-exact (one of many possible translations of the) text;
the South African ("Ringing out from our blue heavens") uses a portion of the exact "old" Afrikaans version for six measures, and then breaks free musically for the "echoing crags/ creaking wagons" phrases;
and the Australian reference ("Our land abounds with nature's gifts") is exact, but just a tiny excerpt from the middle of the anthem "Advance Australia Fair" (text lines 5 and 6, and 15 and 16).
tourism video with orchestral version
mp3 orchestral version (click on RealAudio or WindowsMedia)
tourism video with sung version
video: trailer for the documentary "The Singing Revolution" about Estonia's collective use of singing to help finally end their Soviet era
video: the director of "The Singing Revolution," Jim Tusty, talking about the story
mp3 (choose the VOCAL version) with lyrics (the extract I used is the "B" phrase about halfway through the mp3, "Our land abounds...")
excellent descriptive site: "...it starts with 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' in Xhosa and Zulu (both being Nguni languages) and Sotho, and is followed by the opening lines of 'Die Stem' in Afrikaans and ends with an excerpt of 'The Call of South Africa' in English." (the extract I used starts around the middle of the mp3 and on page 5 of the pdf of the score)
another mp3, with English lyrics below the Afrikaans
video including old engravings of the creaking wagons! A politically-right-wing (some would say racist) admirer of assassinated former leader Hendrik Verwoerd has posted this, but to me it is interesting reading in light of America's own policy through the 1800s towards its own "original inhabitants"... Lands claimed/ occupied/ developed during the world's recent centuries of open-colonizing phase present special cases - in my own mind - regarding "patriotism" and "homeland" concepts. I have strong memories of being taught in childhood how horrible South Africa's Apartheid was, while meanwhile having my own country's treatments of both native americans and our imported slaves totally glossed over. Here in my "old age," I am still pondering these things.