DESCRIPTION:
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM CHALLENGE (No. 4)
Country: Indonesia (officially the Republic of Indonesia)

[The story behind this challenge...

I started learning national anthems (other than the Philippines' where I come from) in 2009 when I was invited to sing both the Philippines' and Singapore's national anthem for an event in Singapore. Unfortunately, close to the event day, the organisers decided to use a recording instead of a live performance (guess they were unsure of me - haha! but thank goodness). Nevertheless, I continued learning the Singapore national anthem. Inspired by learning the new language, I got interested since then to learn more, especially those of the countries I have visited and the ones in my travel bucket list - as if they will easily let me in at the airport if I can sing their national anthem. Haha!

For an unknown reason, I became unstoppable. I kept learning new ones. Though I was leisurely doing it in the beginning (and would even stop for months), I didn't realise I have already mastered over 20 anthems. And then I started learning more.

There's a little magic learning the language in every anthem. It is challenging yet very addictive. Besides, I get to understand its origin and the country's rich history as well; a totally different approach to studying the world history. Every anthem is unique and I have fun memories listening to them - while in the train, the bus or even walking home. The experience is special and I simply want to share this beautiful experience to everyone - the feeling of having the world live inside me.]


ABOUT THE ANTHEM

"Indonesia Raya" is the national anthem of Indonesia since the proclamation of independence of the Republic of Indonesia on the 17 August 1945. The song was introduced by its composer, Wage Rudolf Supratman, on 28 October 1928 during the Second Indonesian Youth Congress in Batavia. The song marked the birth of the all-archipelago nationalist movement in Indonesia that supported the idea of one single "Indonesia" as successor to the Dutch East Indies, rather than split into several colonies. The first newspaper to openly publish the musical notation and lyric of "Indonesia Raya" — an act of defiance towards the Dutch authorities — was the Chinese Indonesian weekly Sin Po. [Source: Wikipedia]