Monday, November 2, 2009

A Lovely Anthem

Did you know that Tibet’s national anthem is the only such song from any Buddhist country that mentions the Buddha? The old Laotian national anthem had a reference to ‘protecting the religion of our forefathers’ but there words were deleted after the communists took over in 1975. In 1949 the present Tibetan national anthem, called Gyallu, replaced the earlier one composed in 1745. Incidentally, it’s also the only national anthem you can be executed for singing within the country for which it was composed. Despite this it’s a rather lovely song. You can listen to it and read the lyrics at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASevhpzcYHE

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