"God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" is the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
of
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...
; it was adopted in 1957.
History
The music for the national anthem was originally composed by
Philip Gbeho and sung to lyrics written by Emmanuel Pappoe-Thompson. However the words were revised by a literary committee in the Office of the then head of state,
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah (born 21 September 190927 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, having led the Gold Coast to independence from Britain in 1957. An ...
. Michael Kwame Gbordzoe has made claims to the current lyrics being used saying that it was written by him after the overthrow of President Nkrumah. A competition was held and Kwame Gbordzoe, who was then a student at Bishop Herman College, presented the current lyrics which were chosen to replace "Lift High The Flag Of Ghana" which had been officially adopted after independence and used as Ghana's national anthem during Nkrumah's presidency.
Lyrics
Current lyrics
The current lyrics of the "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" national anthem that has been in use since the 1970s were written by Michael Kwame Gbordzoe while a student within the framework of a national competition,
and is accompanied by Ghana's national pledge.
Thus, the officially current lyrics of "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" are as follows:
Thus, although
Philip Gbeho’s composition is still being used, the current lyrics beginning "God Bless our Homeland Ghana" do not originate from him.
Michael Kwame Gbordzoe, who became a scientist by profession, has drawn the attention of the Ghana Government to the fact that although his lyrics have been adopted for the country’s national anthem since the 1970s, there has so far been no official Ghana Government recognition for his work, which may be attributed to the abrupt changes in regimes in Ghana in the past.
"German-based Ghanaian says he wrote lyrics of anthem and pledge"
''Modern Ghana'', 4 April 2009.
Messages were sent to various Ghanaian government agencies, and was also discussed on air at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Uniiq FM programme ''PTGlive'', on 9 March 2008.
National Pledge of Ghana
The National Pledge of Ghana is recited immediately after "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana".
References
External links
Ghana: "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" - audio of the national anthem of Ghana, with information and lyricsarchive link
Ghana national anthem
instrumental version
Ghana national anthem
vocal version
"Hail the name of Ghana"
- MIDI Instrumental
{{Authority control
African anthems
Ghanaian music
National symbols of Ghana
Articles containing video clips
National anthem compositions in A-flat major