The European Football championships are nearing their end, and although all but one Dutchman are out, I have to say the grand finale still excites me. As I’m writing this, I’m watching Spain take on the Russians in the second semi-final.

Before the match started, I listened to both countries’ national anthem. National anthems are like a business card for a country; One of those important factors in determining a first impression. If the Russian national anthem were my first impression of the country, I’d truly be impressed. It has a sense of grandeur about it. Hearing 40,000 football fans singing along at the top of their lungs makes it all the more impressive.

The Spanish anthem, on the other hand, is a different story all together. Although its tune is reasonably catchy and sounds almost as old as the Russian anthem, it leaves a bit of a bad taste if you know that story. The “Marcha Real“, as it’s called by the Spanish, was reinstated as the Spanish national anthem by Franco, Spain’s not-so-friendly dictator during a large part of last century.

Instead of doing away with the anthem, to wash away the bad taste of Franco’s rule and start anew, the Spanish decided to keep the anthem. They did choose to lose the lyrics that Franco had thought up, but couldn’t be bothered to think up new lyrics (the original piece of music never did have lyrics before Franco’s decided it should).

Last year, the Spanish head of the Olympic Committee decided it was time to reintroduce lyrics to the song and organized a lyrics competition. A winner was announced last January, but this caused a lot of commotion: The lyrics were in Spanish, and since three other languages are spoken in Spain, many Spanish felt left out. After only five days, it was decided the Spanish national anthem would go back to the way it was.

So tonight, all those poor Spanish football fans once again had the questionable pleasure of humming to an anthem that looks to be a symbol of a divided nation that has trouble letting go of its past…

Filed under: Informative, Propaganda, Sport, Uncategorized