To celebrate US Independence Day (July 4th) I upload the US National Anthem taken from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvbuJKqIJ4Q

The Star Spangled Banner sung by Sandi Patty. It's one of the most beautiful versions I've ever heard.

Sandi Patty can sing it! Gives me chills hearing it. Sandi Patty sings it in a way I've never heard it sung before.

Oh, 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?

On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Flag draped from the roof of the Pentagon

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


History: In 1814, about a week after the city of Washington had been badly burned, British troops moved up to the primary port at Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. Frances Scott Key visited the British fleet in the Harbor on September 13th to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes who had been captured during the Washington raid. The two were detained on the ship so as not to warn the Americans while the Royal Navy attempted to bombard Fort McHenry. At dawn on the 14th, Key noted that the huge American flag, which now hangs in the Smithsonian's American History Museum, was still waving and had not been removed in defeat. The sight inspired him to write a poem entitled Defense of Fort McHenry; later the poem was set to music that had been previously composed for another song by a Mr. Smith. The end result was the inspiring song now considered the national anthem of the United States of America. It was accepted as such by public demand for the next century or so, but became even more accepted as the national anthem during the World Series of Baseball in 1917 when it was sung in honor of the brave armed forces fighting in the Great War. The World Series performance moved everyone in attendance, and after that it was repeated for every game. Finally, on March 3, 1931, the American Congress proclaimed it as the national anthem, 116 years after it was first written.

Various images from all over google, showing some of the heros of the world.

Republic of South African anthem

Words by: Enoch Mankayi and Cornelius Jacob Langenhoven
Music by: Enoch Mankayi and Marthinus Lourens de Villiers
Adopted: 1994

At the time that South Africa's multi-racial system of government was adopted, there were two anthems in use among the people, divided by the old racial lines. "N'kosi Sikelel' iAfrica" (God Bless Africa), written and composed by Enoch Mankayi, which also has the same melody and nearly the same words as the anthems of Tanzania and Zambia, (and, formerly,  Zimbabwe), was popular with the black population since it was first composed in 1897 for Mankayi's music students. The song was quickly adopted as the "people's anthem" and made the anthem of the African National Congress (ANC), a group that would become the first majority black political party to lead the country. The white South Africans, however, had been using "Die Stem van Suid Afrika" (The Call of South Africa) since the 1920s on an unofficial basis, and was made the state's official anthem in 1957. Even though the latter anthem was seen as too closely tied to the apartheid system by the majority black population, it was decided in the interim to make both anthems the national anthem, "God Bless Africa" was usually played in its entirety followed by the complete "Die Stem".

In 1997, the two anthems were combined, starting with "God Bless Africa" in Xhosa, followed by Sesotho, then a few lines of "Die Stem" in Afrikaans, and finishing the anthem with another few lines from "Die Stem" in English. (The English lines actually do not appear in the official English version of "Die Stem", but are an abridgement of the last few lines of the first verse, with the words slightly altered to reflect South Africa's new freedom.)

The lyric and its meaning:

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

[Paragraph 1 Xhosa
Paragraph 2 Sesotho
Paragraph 3 Afrikaans
Paragraph 4 English]

---
ENGLISH TRANSLATION

God bless Africa,
Lift her horn on high,
Hear our prayers.
God bless us
Who are Your people.

God save our nation,
End wars and strife.
South Africa.

Ringing out from our blue heavens,
from our deep seas breaking round;
Over everlasting mountains
Where the echoing crags resound

Afghanistan anthem

Words by: unknown
Music by: Ustad Qasim
Adopted: 1992, abolished 1999, restored 2002

Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic, a new anthem for Afghanistan, a Mujahedin battle song, composed back in 1919, was granted along with other new national symbols. During the rule of the Taliban over Afghanistan, from 1999-2002, Afghanistan was in the unique position of not having a national anthem, as the Taliban, a strict Islamic religious party, banned music throughout the country.

In 2004, the new Afghan constitution stated that a new national anthem for the country, requested by the post-Taliban government to signal a new era for Afghanistan, must be written in Pashto and contain the phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great), and mention the names of the ethnic groups in Afghanistan. As of yet, there has been no declared new anthem (the government has said it will replace the anthem when one that meets all the criteria of the new constitution is met), but there has been at least one proposal (partially using the words of the 1973-1978 anthem). Keep watching if there is a new anthem declared.

Transliteration

Daa watan afghanistan do

Daa ezzat de har afghan di

kor de soli kor de tori

har bachi ye qahraman di

daa watan di tolo kor di

de balocho, de uzbako

de pashtoon aw hazarwoo

de turkmano de tajeko

worsara arab, gojar di

pamirian, noristanian

barahawi di, qizilbash di

ham aimaq, ham pashaiyean

daa hiwad ba til zaligi

laka limar pa eshna aasman

pa sina ki de asia

laka zera wi jawidan

noom de haq mo di rahbar

wayoo Allah o Akbar, wayoo Allah o Akbar

English translation:

This land is Afghanistan

It is pride of every Afghan

The land of peace, the land of sword

Its sons are all braves

This is the country of every tribe

Land of Baluch, and Uzbeks

Pashtoons and Hazaras

Turkmen and Tajiks

with them, Arabs and Gojars

          Pamirian, Nooristanian

Barahawi and Qizilbash

Also Aimaq and Pashaye

This Land will shine for ever

Like the sun in the blue sky

In the chest of Asia

It will remain as heart for ever

We will follow the one God

We all say, Allah is great, we all say, Allah is great

Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AODS85KJRw

SPANISH LYRICS

CHORUS:
¡Oh gloria inmarcesible!
¡Oh júbilo inmortal!
¡En surcos de dolores
El bien germina ya.

1. Cesó la horrible noche
La libertad sublime
Derrama las auroras
De su invencible luz.
La humanidad entera,
Que entre cadenas gime,
Comprende las palabras
Del que murió en la cruz.

2. Independencia"grita
El mundo americano:
Se baña en sangre de héroes
La tierra de Colón.
Pero este gran principio: "el rey no es soberano"
Resuena, Y los que sufren
Bendicen su pasión.

3. Del Orinoco el cauce
Se colma de despojos,
De sangre y llanto un rio Se mira allí correr.
En Bárbula no saben
Las almas ni los ojos
Si admiración o espanto
Sentir o padecer.

4. A orillas del Caribe
Hambriento un pueblo lucha Horrores prefiriendo
A pérfida salud.
!Oh, sí¡ de Cartagena
La abnegación es mucha,
Y escombros de la muerte
desprecian su virtud.

5. De Boyacá en los campos
El genio de la gloria
Con cada espiga un héroe
invicto coronó.
Soldados sin coraza
Ganaron la victoria;
Su varonil aliento
De escudo les sirvió.

6. Bolivar cruza el ande
Que riega dos océanos
Espadas cual centellas
Fulguran en Junín.
Centauros indomables
Descienden a los llanos
Y empieza a presentirse
De la epopeya el fin.
  
7. La trompa victoriosa
Que en Ayacucho truena
En cada triunfo crece
Su formidable són.
En su expansivo empuje
La libertad se estrena,
Del cielo Americano
Formando un pabellón.

8. La Virgen sus cabellos
Arranca en agonía
Y de su amor viuda
Los cuelga del ciprés.
Lamenta su esperanza
Que cubre losa fría;
Pero glorioso orgullo
circunda su alba tez.

9. La Patria así se forma
Termópilas brotando;
Constelación de cíclopes Su noche iluminó;
La flor estremecida
Mortal el viento hallando
Debajo los laureles
Seguridad buscó.

10. Mas no es completa gloria Vencer en la batalla, Que al brazo que combate Lo anima la verdad.
La independencia sola
El gran clamor no acalla:
Si el sol alumbra a todos
Justicia es libertad.
   
11. Del hombre los derechos
Nariño predicando,
El alma de la lucha
Profético enseñó.
Ricaurte en San Mateo
En átomos volando
"Deber antes que vida",
Con llamas escribió.

---
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
 
CHORUS:
Oh unfading glory!
Oh immortal joy!
In furrows of pain
Good is already germinating.

1. The fearful night came to an end,
Liberty sublime
Is spreading the dawns
Of its invincible light.
The whole of humanity,
Which is groaning under chains,
Understands the words
Of the One who died on the Cross.

2. "Independence" cries
The American world;
In heroes' blood is bathing
The Land of Columbus.
But this great principle:
"The King is not sovereign",
Resounds, and those who suffer
Praise the passion in it.