In the last few hours, already with the countdown to the next match of the national team on Saturday 3 December, social networks have exploded with the discovery of an unusual coincidence between Argentina and Australia: the anthem of the country of kangaroos has a beginning very similar to one of the verses of National anthem of Argentinaby the chosen tones or chords.
Similarity arises when listening the first bars of the Australian anthem, which immediately bring to mind the part “May the laurels we have achieved be everlasting…” of the Argentine anthem.
As data in support of the accusation of plagiarism, it should be clarified that the National anthem of Argentina was first sung in 1813while the one in Australia was first played in 1878although it was only adopted as the national anthem in 1984, when it replaced the traditional one God Save the Queen of the British Empire, as Australia was a colony.
The history of the Argentine national anthem
The National anthem of Argentina It is the official anthem of Argentina. The letter was written by Alejandro Vicente López and Planes in 1812 and the music was composed by Blas Parera a year later.
It was originally called patriotic marchafter national patriotic song and later was a patriotic song. A publication in 1847 called it National anthem of Argentinaa name it has kept ever since.
The origin was that in 1813 the General Constituent Assembly commissioned Parera to compose the theme, with texts by López y Planes. Then, in 1860 the composer Juan Pedro Esnaola made some changes to the music based on handwritten notations in the original composition.
On August 2, 1924, President Marcelo T. de Alvear created A commission formed to compose an official version of the national anthem. Thanks to the discovery of a score in the National Historical Museum attributed to Blas Parera, to which the commission introduced the arrangements, it premiered at the Teatro Colón on May 25, 1927.
However there have been criticisms and by means of a decree of 1928 a new commission was set up, where it was recommended to make a version more faithful to that of Juan Pedro Esnaola.
Today, the current version of the anthem corresponds to the transcription made by Luis Lareta, which complies with what was agreed on September 25, 1928 by the Executive Power of the Nation.
By decree number 10.302 of April 24, 1944, this march was approved as the Argentine national anthem.
An old controversy in Argentina
Over the years, many classical music scholars have discovered Blas Parera’s musical influences: the composition is accused of borrowing the introduction from a sonata by Clementi.
Others, meanwhile, have pointed this out there are parts that are strikingly similar to several Mozart compositions.
Charly García made his own version of the National anthem of Argentinaon your disk Economic philosophy and rubber shoes (1990). What was a scandal at the time is now a much loved version broadcast on the radio.
the Australian anthem
In the year 2021, Australia has changed its national anthem, called Advance Australia Fairto recognize the aborigines and the islanders of the Torres Strait, a discriminated population, dispossessed of their lands and who have inhabited those lands for more than 60,000 years.
From 1 January last year, the phrase ‘for we are young and free’ in Australia’s previous national anthem was changed to ‘For we are one and free’ to also acknowledge pre-colonial history.
For Prime Minister Scott Morrison, that change “didn’t take away anything, but I think it really adds meaning to the text” in the context of recognizing a nation’s multiculturalism.
It should be remembered that Australia has welcomed immigrants and refugees from all countries, and is now rediscovering and recovering the languages and cultures of hundreds of native peoples.
The change to the new anthem was endorsed by David Huyrley, the Governor-General representing the Queen of England, who is also Australia’s Head of State.
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Source: Clarin
