Yeah the soviet one makes me think of hunt for red october, it's so epic Our US one is just really bombastic and kind of meh, people get way too precious and nationalistic about it But being flashy & showy is pretty fitting haha, also that the vast majority of our citizens don't even know it's talking about the war of 1812, or even that the Brits and Canadians torched our white house haha, we were drunk cocky and complacent after beating the Brits He's right about the vocal complexity is too much
The American national anthem is composed in a way so that singers either crush it and it’s awesome or completely fuck it up and people get to laugh there’s no in between
That's basically what I say every time people talk about it, it's almost like a game show competition where the audience rates the singer instead of an inclusive song. Go big or go home - America
Two corrections: - That's the Sovietic anthem, not the current Russian anthem. - Adam listened to Iran's imperial anthem, which was replaced by the national anthem in 1979. The current anthem is not as belligerent.
It's the same anthem though, barring a change in lyrics which have probably escaped Adam's notice unless he speaks Russian. I don't know which one of the two is on youtube, but either way it's the same melody.
@dolofonos Oh, wow. Silly me. I thought he had mistsken it for the Russian anthem simply because he kept calling it the Russian anthem. How stupid of me.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am under the impression that the ussr and russian federation's national anthem are the exact same in terms of music/composition and that it's only the lyrics which have been changed. I n fact, the Russian national anthem has changed many, many time. During the early USSR it was a version of the internationale. During Stalin's reign they changed it to be more distinctly Russian to foster a sense of nationalism in the people to motivate fighting for one's country, and then after destalinization it was changed again to remove elements of stalin's cult of personality. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure they changed it again rewriting the lyrics completely but again keeping the music the same. If not, then that's what they should have done, because it's such a good anthem.
Whenever they played our anthem at school I'd get bored as shit in the instrumental parts. We could've done so much better, like getting Spinetta to compose a sequel or something.
Fun fact about the South African national anthem is that it consists of 5 different languages and is Damn hard to learn in pre school. 😩 Uganda sounds like an Alicia Keys song...it wins.
He is right about the American National Anthem getting screwed up more than any other anthems during sporting events, which could either be incredibly cringy or hilarious depending on who's singing.
Most national anthems came about in the 19th century, because nationalism came about in full stride in that time. That's why all these anthems sound like bouncy Sousa marches, including many of the twentieth century ones; because that's what a national anthem "should" sound like.
Let's be fair, any non latin American, and most latin americans don't really know the type of music of the times when our anthems were written so they don't have the context for it.
For anyone curious: The Colombian national anthem is 17 minutes long because it has 11 verses and a chorus. The way it's sang it goes something like chorus - verse 1 - chorus - verse 2... and so on. It's just a formality. Nobody sings the anthem beyond the chorus after the first verse.
@@bkebradley For example the notes B-C or C to C sharp. But anyways what you said still doesn't have anything to do with the critique of the USA anthem being jumpy in the tonal changes.
It is good but not really better. It would clear up the confusion with the stancas though. I see a lot of people claiming the 2nd stanza is somehow problematic too.
Chances are, the reason why the Russian anthem is so good is because it's a conversion of the USSR anthem, and whoever had to write that probably had their life depend on it.
I'm an actor and singer, and sometimes I'm asked to sing the National Anthem at events, and I agree to what Adam's said. I have to give myself a pitch before I go onstage to sing an *acapella* song so I don't blow out my voice on the high note.
I will say, the strenght on the brazillian anthem is the lyrics, that i find very reflective and well constructed, referencing various classics of the brazilian literature. Im not the big fan of instrumentation, but i feel like if you know the meaning of what you are hearing, you have a diferent experience
It should probably be, “I Am Australian.” I like the current one but it is weirdly patriotic, and Waltzing Matilda is too weird, but I Am Australian would be pretty much perfect
Uruguay's anthem sounds like the preset songs played with the preset instruments that would play when I accidentally hit the "play" button on my first piano keyboard from the 90s.
I blame the translation... it's not about killing enemy but about stay strong even at the most desprate time. It is a battle song tho, so maybe you're right
Even before I watch the video: They're all terrible and same-y, except for the Russian one, and I'm only saying that because communism is a meme Edit: Ok of all the African countries, of course Uganda was actually good XD
As a brazillian, i think it's pretty characteristic of our relationship with our own nation and where we feel we're placed in the world. All of these anthems have sort of a layer of appearance they try to convey and another of their true character. America sings about freedom and has a grandiose theme that is impossible for most ppl to sing and sounds stale and void. Brazil sings about it's beautiful nature and pride for the nation but it's entire history bestows this complex feeling of shame, indifference, fellowship, impotence and striving on the ppl from here that is really difficult to even start describing, and i think this goofiness conveys that, the bumbling fools that set it's historical course and our relationship of paradoxical pride and shame to our roots. There's so much that can be read into what these pieces intend and what they fail to do, their pretense and actual presentation, i think it's a pretty interesting exercise to analyze them in their historical and geopolitical context.
@Phineas Facing Forward Hey, big unpretentious genius, next time you quote someone, how about you write what they actually fucking said? Also maybe develop interpretative skills, maybe turn off the auto complete and actually try to engage with the words that you register.
Honestly there are so many songs from the ussr and the red army choir that are just absolute bangers polyushka pulye, the partisans song, moscow defenders, song of the volga boatmen, moscow nights, on the road. So so many absolute bangers
I knew a conductor once who only liked The Star Spangled Banner when it's played by an orchestra. He referred to the vocal performances at sporting events as "tortured renditions."
Canada's national anthem is alright. But it's a hell of a lot better than the Ontario anthem. "A place to stand, a place to grow, Ontari-ari-ari-o." If you have not heard this you must grace your years with this cringe fest.
Although you played a meme version of it at the end, I wish Adam would've commented on L'internationale because although it isn't a national anthem per se, it's an International Anthem (and was formerly the Soviet Anthem before what we now know as the Soviet Anthem). The Soviet Anthem we know today was adopted at the onset of the second world war when Stalin began drumming up Russian nationalist sentiment in preparation for the war. Although it's hard to argue with the quality of the Soviet National Anthem, L'internationale's history and lyrics are very beautiful, and I think deserved some reflection.
China used the Internationale as their anthem as well for a bit, before changing it. In fact, China had 11 different anthems (some of them unofficial) within 103 years, finally settling on the current one in 1982. Some of the other anthems, particularly the Qing dynasty's ones, were pretty good imo. Also, despite the modern national anthem being written during the second Sino-Japanese war and resonating with the Chinese public at the time, the playwright who penned the lyrics (inspired by the Internationale) actually ended up charged with being a counterrevolutionary and dying in prison during the cultural revolution because he wrote an article criticizing the CCP leadership. Pretty sad stuff tbh.
The thing about American anthem is that it fundamentally shouldn't work. It has so many low and high notes that you will either bottom out or crack your voice at some point when singing it. The fact that it sounds as good as it does is what makes it impressive.
Canada's national Anthem is a song about bringing the people together to love and appreciate the land that they were born in. Mexico's national anthem is a song about the people standing up for their country should anyone try to fuck with them ...US's national anthem is a song about how much they love their flag.
All the former Soviet countries have pretty banging national anthems. I personally always really liked the text of the GDR anthem. Sad that it will never be sung again. I mean it starts with "risen from ruins and facing the future". That's pretty epic imagery right there.
