Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - American National Anthem: "Nuestro Himno"

Cynthetiq · 04-30-2006, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Spanish anthem adds fuel to debate
Activists are split about whom a new foreign-language 'Star-Spangled Banner' will help.

By CINDY CARCAMO
The Orange County Register

Spanish-language pop stars and artist-producer Wyclef Jean jumped into the immigration debate this week after recording their own bilingual version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" as a show of support for illegal immigrants in light of possible immigration changes in Congress.

The song, to be released to radio stations this afternoon and played Friday, has angered opponents of illegal immigration and some immigration advocates, who believe it is unpatriotic, divisive and ultimately damaging to their cause.

Others think the bilingual version will allow Hispanic immigrants who don't speak English to take ownership of the national anthem after better understanding the country's principles and values in their native language.

"This is a poetic way of saying: 'We're here. This is our dream, and we're not here as a threat to anybody,'" said Leo Chavez, professor of anthropology and director of the Chicano Latino Studies program at UC Irvine.

George Key, whose great-grandfather Francis Scott Key wrote the poem in 1814 that eventually became the anthem, called the bilingual version "despicable."

"The national anthem is for Americans, and that's what it should be - in American English."

The song, "Nuestro Himno" ("Our Anthem"), keeps to the anthem's traditional structure but is roughly translated to be more contemporary. The song features more than 20 Spanish-speaking artists, such as Voz a Voz, Frank Reyes and Gloria Trevi.

Music executives Tuesday released lyrics to an alternate version of the Spanish anthem. The alternate version includes an English rap by 11-year-old reggaeton artist P-Star, who says in the song that immigration laws break up families and hurt children.

That version may be released on a CD called "Somos Americanos" ("We are Americans"). The CD is scheduled for release May 16, said executives at Urban Box Office, a New York-based entertainment company and distributor of urban Latin music.

The song is a call for solidarity among immigrants, said Geo Doleo, part of the pop group Voz a Voz from the Dominican Republic.

"We feel like we're a part of one voice. We're here finding the dream. It's a way of saying we're not bad people. We're here to do good things," said Doleo, who sang the chorus.

Disc jockeys at Spanish-language radio stations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, a driving force in rallying thousands to march in the past few months, are eagerly awaiting a copy of the nonrap version of the song. Most plan to play it Friday or Monday.

Enrique Mayans, the program director for Santa Ana-based KWIZ/96.7 FM (El Sonido), said he'll play the song Monday, when large demonstrations against more stringent immigration laws are planned.

"In a way, it's telling people here that even though they are newly arrived and don't know English, they should know the values of this country," he said.

The song's producer, Eduardo Reyes, said it is a way to give back "a little to the migrants who've given to us."

"There were probably 10 million Latinos that couldn't understand (the anthem)," he said. "When the Latino immigrants listen to this anthem and the lyrics, they are going to know more about the meaning than many Americans."

Some immigration supporters, however, think the song sends a mixed message.

"When you listen on the radio about the marches, they tell you not to wave the Mexican flag, but they'll play this anthem. They're contradicting themselves," said Rafael Barajas, former president of the Federation of Zacatecan Clubs of Southern California.

The 54-year-old Anaheim resident said the song will ultimately hurt the movement and may trigger a backlash.

"Wow. What are they doing now?" said Raymundo Chavez of Placentia when he heard about the song on the daytime program "Escandalo T.V." Chavez said the artists are not helping out their own people.

"There are some things you just shouldn't touch, like 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" Chavez, 65, said. "It was written a certain way, and that's the way it should be sung,"

He said he doesn't feel any more sympathetic toward illegal immigrants after hearing about the song. "Instead of helping their cause, they're setting (it) back," he said

The song doesn't include most people in the United States, said Robin Hvidston, a member of the Minuteman Project who has rallied at day-labor sites in the county.

"I feel excluded," she said. "Most people in the U.S. can't understand the song. It's meant to apply to a certain group of people. It strikes me as being divisive for our nation."

Another group member and illegal-immigration opponent, Lupe Moreno, doesn't see the remake as a bad thing.

"If it's going to bring the meaning to the Latino immigrants about what the nation means to us, then more power to them," said Moreno, president of Latino Americans for Immigration Reform.

The CD will sell for $10, and some of the proceeds will benefit the National Capital Immigration Coalition in Washington, D.C., which supports immigrants rights.

"The Star-Spangled Banner"
(First verse)
O, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

"Our Anthem"
(Translated from Spanish)
Verse 1
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail as night falls?
Its stars and stripes floated yesterday
In the fierce combat, the sign of victory
The flame of battle, in step with liberty.
Throughout the night it was said, "It is being defended."
Chorus:
Oh, say! Does it still show its beautiful stars
Over the land of the free, the sacred flag?
Verse 2
Its stars and stripes, liberty, we are the same.
We're brothers, it's our anthem.
In the fierce combat, the sign of victory,
The flame of battle, in step with liberty.
Throughout the night it was said, "It is being defended."
Chorus:
"Oh, say! Does it still show its beautiful stars?
Over the land of the free, the sacred flag?"

Is nothing sacred? Do you go to someone's house and tell them how to arrange their furniture? Can you not accept graciously what the host provides and does not provide?

I think that this is overstepping the line. When I was in the Philippines before the last movie played in a theater they play their national anthem. I didn't want to stand up for it, but it was suggested that I do so lest I get an ass beating. The same was for when living in Singapore, I sat respectfully and quietly as I would expect someone else to do so for my national anthem.