Anthems (6) – Interlude “Down Under” (New Zealand, Australia)

I’d never heard the anthem of New Zealand or Australia, so I went on YouTube to see what they sounded like.
 

I have to admit, I started out fairly non-committal.  But anthems can be sung at all sorts of tempos and in all sorts of styles; I reserve judgment.  Both anthems, at first, seemed okay but not terribly inspiring.  Both now are growing on me.

As I’ve said, national anthems are meant for the people of the nations in question; an outsider will never react the same way as a native.

I was intrigued by some of the comments I noticed on YouTube.  One person called one of the anthems a dirge.  This was understandably met with some indignation from a loyal citizen.

I began with the intention of avoiding the confusing of these two countries.  People here, in the U.S., forever connect them, I think; and they do both share British heritage; yet they are quite different, both in history and geography—and I always stress this to my friends here.  Yet the more I listen to the two anthems, the more I seem to confuse them.  I’m going to have to work on this!  Perhaps—again—because the recordings I’m listening to are sung in a similar, rather “pop” style.  But also, perhaps, because I sense they both have something, again, of the Anglican-style hymn in them.

The sense of the Australian anthem is that Australia is blessed with many riches, let’s do good things with them.  I’ve always felt this was a good approach for a national anthem.

The New Zealand anthem has verses in English, but also in Maori.  The Maori, apparently, is now sung first.  This reflects, in multiple ways, differences between New Zealand and Australia.  At first I found the English lyrics a bit expansive—asking God to defend the country; speaking in the following verses of the desire for peace but expressing the willingness to fight for the land if it is threatened.  By comparison, the Maori lyrics seemed simple and straight-forward:  Bless us, God; may Good flourish.  Defend the Land.

But I only have the translation for the first Maori verse, so I’m at a disadvantage here.

I’ll be listening to both of the anthems more.  They are little-known in the U.S.  Check them out on YouTube.

What intrigues me most, at this point, is how I am mixing the two melodies up, in spite of my determination not to.  Is it me, or the music?