National Anthem of Maldives
Until the late 1940s the state anthem of the Maldives was a
melody with no lyrics. It was called the Salaamathi and was performed by the
royal band on state occasions at the Etherekoilu, the official residence of the
King.
In 1948 it was determined that the Salaamathi needed
replacement with lyrics to accompany a new melody. The words were composed by a
young poet and later a chief justice, Mohamed Jameel Didi.
Jameel Didi looked around for a tune to accompany his poem.
His uncle, the chief justice Hussain Salahuddine, had just acquired a new clock
that played a tune at the stroke of midday, the Scottish folk song “Auld Lang
Syne”, and Jameel decided to use that tune for his poem (slightly modified to
fit the words).
Although the Salaamathi survived as the royal anthem until
1964, it did not occur to anyone to adopt it as the national anthem. In 1972,
for the first time in history, the Maldives hosted a foreign head of state –
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Maldive government of the time
deemed it necessary to compose a different tune for the anthem instead. Hastily
they commissioned the composition of a new melody. The new melody of the
Maldive national anthem was composed by a distinguished Sri Lankan maestro,
Pandit Wannakuwattawaduge Don Amaradeva. The original lyrics were used, with
some changes to mark the fact that Maldives has been a republic since 1968.
Although as many as seven verses can be found for
this anthem, it seems that the most common representation is the first two
verses, which is what is presented here.
National Anthem
Gavmii mi ekuverikan matii tibegen kuriime salaam,
Gavmii bahun gina heyo du’aa kuramun
kuriime salaam.
Gavmii nishaanang hurmataa eku boo lambai tibegen
Audaanakan libigen e vaa dida-ak kuriime salaam.
Nasraa nasiibaa kaamyaabu-ge ramzakang himenee
Fessaa rataai hudaa ekii fenumun kuriime salaam.
English Translation
We salute you in this national unity.
We salute you, with many good wishes
in the national tongue,
Bowing the head in respect to the national symbol.
We salute the flag that has such might;
It falls into the sphere of victory, fortune and success
With its green and red and white together, and therefore we
salute it.
