How does this make you feel? Is this right? What if you have absolutely no connection to that country, other than maybe a friend?
Maybe I’d better explain. I just watched a Bollywood movie and there was a scene in it that was sweet and yet really bothered me. In it, there is an Indian born and raised family bringing up their London-born son, in London. He is participating in a class singing event. He will be leading the song. The parents go to see him, expecting them to sing some Western song. Instead, he leads them in “Jana Gana Mana”, the Indian national anthem.
It was sweet to hear the anthem but it really skeeved me out and brought me right out of the movie (it wasn’t the first thing that did so, either.)
The parents of the Indian kid were thrilled but I can’t help but feel that I would not have liked it, were I one of the other parents. Why can’t you sing the British National Anthem (whatever it is?) This is your adopted country now, and sure, you are welcome to sing your own anthem, but in a public, school-led event, I don’t think it’s right.
The only way I can see it as “OK” is if you were singing several countries’ national anthems, or maybe learning about India or something.
For reference sake, I’m an Indian born American raised girl and I don’t even know the words to “Jana Gana Mana”. I’ve never sang it, though I have heard it. I’m American. I know the words to the US National Anthem, and any number of US patriotic songs, too. I think this is the right way. When I came to the age of majority, I chose to live here. I like maintaining my roots but…
The closest I can come to remembering a similar situation was a Christmas carols contest in which my team (Organic Specialty) sung verses of Silent Night in Latin, Spanish, French, German, Galego, Euskera and Catalan: all of them except Latin (which we’d all studied in school) were mother tongues for at least one person in the class; each verse was sung by those for whom it was their mother tongue (Latin by everybody).
We celebrated our many nationalities/regionalities/origins… but all of them. We joked that we’d considered bribing the Italian off the Engineering team, to add another language.
I think it could be appropriate to sing the hymn of another country in a school if it was, say, the German School, or if the class had been doing work studying that country, or something like that. By itself, no.
The Canadians have an awesome anthem and I know most of the words too it. I’ll sing it once in a while for fun. The French have a good one too although I can’t sing along. I’m American btw.
I’ll sing along with the Canadian National anthem if I’m at a baseball game with a Canadian team. Why not? And “La Marseillaise” is a great national anthem. It’s pretty much the only thing I admire about the French.
I will sing other countries’ anthems when it is clearly a situation where guests are welcome to cheerfully participate … as opposed to just singing them as if to make a point or something.
In addition to my own (U.S.), I know Canada, Ireland (regular AND rugby), the U.K. and can mostly fake it though France.
I like Oh, Canada and Rule Britannia. Can’t think of any others I know off the top of my head. I don’t see a problem with a London-born Indian acknowledging his heritage. If he was belligerent about it maybe I’d tell him to go live in India, then, but singing a song isn’t belligerent.
I think it’s perfectly acceptable for the kid to sing the national anthem of his birth parents’ if he so wishes. I don’t see how increasing cultural awareness is a bad thing, and nor do I think that the desire to sing ‘God Save the Queen’ (our official anthem), or not, is some objective measure of how ‘British’ we are. As a Brit myself, I don’t think I’ve ever sung our national anthem in school or been required to elsewhere. It’s not the most attractive tune, somewhat plodding and overtly militaristic in nature. Whilst I don’t much begrudge our current Queen, who’s manages to act as a reasonably discrete figurehead, I can’t say the same about Prince Charles (who has used his birth position to push homoeopathy, anti-GM policy, and architectural stagnation in this country). I’d describe myself as a republican, yet I’m not in any sense ‘anti-British’. Personally I prefer Blake’s ‘And did those feet in ancient time’ as a more positive song for national identity, as a call to progress rather than ‘scattering our enemies’.
Hockey and lacrosse games we go to often have both the Canadian and US national anthems sung at the beginning; I don’t sing the US anthem, but I do observe respect of it. If there was anyone in the stands singing along with it, I would assume they are US American transplants and think nothing of it. If I knew it was Canadians singing it, I wouldn’t care, either (but I might assume they were drunk already ).
We were in Canada last month for my kid’s college graduation. When they started singing “Oh, Canada”. I more or less know the first phrase, but my wife, being a hockey fan, knew the words all the way through.
I’m a choral singer, so this was perhaps the only time my wife ever sang better than me!
I view national anthems roughly as a pledge of allegiance. This being the case I would NOT sing the national anthem of another country.
The only way I could see it as appropriate would be as part of a “League of Nations” style project or fair in school or similiar where a demonstation of various cultures / nationalities was staged.
I do also expect you to know your own national anthem. To my shame I only know the main two english verses of my own, and don’t know the Maori at all. I am teaching my daughter the song also. When I go back I will be making an effort to learn the whole thing.
And yes - in the case of the OP if I was one of the other parents I would be annoyed, UNLESS there was a specific reason for singing the national anthem. (eg: visiting high profile Indian visitor, Indian national day etc)
I regularly sing The Star Spangled Banner, God Save the Queen, the Marseillaise, and O Canada because they’re very stirring and fun to sing. Of course I only really know the words to the first two, but I mumble through the others.
I wouldn’t mind learning the Indian national anthem and would probably sing it frequently if I liked the tune.
I have about a dozen other countries’ national anthems on my iPod just because I like the tunes (Great Britain, France, Australia, Canada, Andorra, Japan, Norway and some others I’m now forgetting). I wouldn’t sing them in public, however, because I’m not a citizen of those countries. When I’ve been in public when any have been played, I just stand respectfully.
I don’t usually sing other national anthems because they don’t “belong” to me, if that makes any sense. I’ll respect them, stand up while others sing, etc., but I feel funny singing the anthem of a country other than my native Canada.
It isn’t singing the US anthem that gives me pause; I see it as a gesture of respect. The Pledge of Allegiance was a different matter, because however much I admire our neighbours and allies, I don’t pledge myself to their flag. I will stand, respectfully, while Americans do pledge their allegiance, but those are words that I cannot say, in good conscience.
I sang both anthems at a Toronto Maple Leafs game in 1996 or so - that was nerve wracking because someone else had cancelled. I was just about to open a bottle of wine to have with supper when the phone call came - no time to record and lip-synch, gotta do both anthems live.
This was before we had internet, so I phoned someone and wrote down the words, then chanted them in my head over and over again. My fee - two seats in the Golds at Maple Leaf Gardens, first tier at ice level. Best seats for any game, anywhere, I have ever had.
At my primary school we sang the Star-spangled banner to make our US-born nuns happy on July 4th.
I’ve sung the Masellaise several times in “French week” as a teacher, in a choir.
Aside from that, I woudln’t do it unless I’d been living in the place for a while
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