"" (, ; ) 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 European ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

Todor Skalovski Todor Skalovski (, 21 January 1909 – 1 July 2004) was a Macedonian composer, chorus and orchestra conductor who wrote the music to North Macedonia's national anthem "Denes nad Makedonija" (). He is regarded as one of the most distinguished ...

composed the music and Vlado Maleski wrote the lyrics of the song in the early 1940s. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1992, almost a year after the state's independence from

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

. Before its adoption as a national anthem, it was used as the regional anthem of the

Socialist Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

, a constituent state of Yugoslavia, before it became the national anthem of the Republic of North Macedonia.

History

The lyrics of "Denes nad Makedonija" were penned by Vlado Maleski, a writer who was active in the Partisan movement during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The musical portion was composed by

. The song was first played in 1942 in

Struga Struga ( ; , sq-definite, Struga) is a town and popular tourist destination situated in the south-western region of North Macedonia, lying on the shore of Lake Ohrid. The town of Struga is the seat of Struga Municipality. Name The name Struga ...

, among partisan and communist circles. According to oral recounts, the hymn was played by Maleski himself on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

in the presence of 24 youths, whose identities were subsequently documented in writing only in 1981. Even though the resistance consisted of fighters from the different ethnic groups across Yugoslavia, the aforementioned youths are believed to have all identified as Macedonians. From the end of the war, it was utilized – albeit unofficially – as the regional anthem of the

(which was part of

at the time) until 1989. In June 1943, the song was published in a collection of Macedonian national liberation songs, edited by Kočo Racin. The lyrics were slightly different, mentioning

Nikola Karev Nikola Yanakiev Karev (; ; November 23, 1877 – April 27, 1905) was a Macedonian Bulgarians, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary. He was born in Kruševo and died in the village of Rajčani both today in North Macedonia. Karev was a local leader ...

and Dimitar Vlahov. During the Informbiro period, a small change was made in the lyrics. In the new version, the names of Karev and Vlahov were removed and that of Dame Gruev was added. Karev and his brothers were suspected of being Bulgarophiles. Vlahov also was dismissed, because he communicated much better in Bulgarian than in Macedonian and had no political supporters in SR Macedonia, among other reasons. According to

's nephew Mishe Karev, the communist elite discussed the idea of removing the name of Gotse Delchev too and not including that of Dame Gruev, and proclaiming them as Bulgarians, but it was declined. On 14 April 1989, the socialist republic's Assembly amended the Constitution of 1974, expressly affirming "Denes nad Makedonija" as its official regional anthem. However, this change was short-lived, as the Assembly declared Macedonia's sovereignty two years later in January. Macedonia's independence was approved on 8 September 1991 in a referendum that saw Macedonians vote overwhelmingly in favor of independence. Soon after independence, the Macedonian national legislature held a contest to determine a national anthem for the state. "Denes nad Makedonija" was one of several candidates in contention – the others in the running were "Himna" (, ) by Taki Hrisik and "Da ni bideš večna" () by Aleksandar Džambazov – and ended up finishing runner-up in the final results. Despite this, most members of the Assembly Commission voted to make it the national anthem of the state, and it was duly adopted on 11 August 1992. The Albanian political parties did not support the anthem on the basis that it favored one ethnic group and excluded the others.

Legal protection and reception

Macedonia's Sobranie (legislative chamber) passed

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

titled "The Law on the Anthem of the Republic of Macedonia" on 11 August 1992. This officially adopted "Denes nad Makedonija" as the national anthem of the country, with Article 2 specifically confirming the song's status as such. However, it did not stipulate which stanzas should be recognized as official. Article 5 of the country's constitution requires laws regarding

national symbols A national symbol is a manifestation of a nation or community, serving as a representation of their National identity, identity and values. National symbols may be not only applied to sovereign states but also nations and countries in a state of ...

to be approved by a two-thirds majority. Although 88 out of the 120 members of the Assembly voted for it, Albanian representatives were not involved. In the 2011

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survey, 84.8% of the respondents said that they liked the anthem, while 15.2% said they did not. Ethnically, 54% of the Albanian respondents said they did not like it and 46% said they did, while 97% of the Macedonian respondents said that they liked it.

Lyrics

"Denes nad Makedonija", as originally written, consists of four stanzas. North Macedonia's law does not exactly specify which stanzas officially constitute the national anthem. However, the second stanza is often omitted from the lyrics of the national anthem that are posted on North Macedonia's government websites. The lyrics of "Denes nad Makedonija" are reflective of a military marching song, which is fitting given its connection to the Yugoslav Macedonian theatre of the Second World War. They are not a call to arms for Macedonians; instead, the hymn uses

imagery Imagery is visual symbolism, or figurative language that evokes a mental image or other kinds of sense impressions, especially in a literary work, but also in other activities such as. Imagery in literature can also be instrumental in conveying ...

to take the person singing it back to the time the anthem was written and purports that they themselves were engaging in combat at the time. The lyrics previously alluded to the concepts of mothers and motherhood (specifically in the second stanza). This is in line with the national anthems – both past and present – of other

Southeast Europe Southeast Europe or Southeastern Europe is a geographical sub-region of Europe, consisting primarily of the region of the Balkans, as well as adjacent regions and Archipelago, archipelagos. There are overlapping and conflicting definitions of t ...

an countries like

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

(" Jedna si jedina"),

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

(" Horvatska domovina"), and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

(" Oj, svijetla majska zoro"). It discussed how mothers mourn for their fallen sons, who died fighting for the rights and liberty of their country. They are comforted for their loss by being reminded of the bravery of their sons and the nobleness of the cause for which they died. Although this theme has been described as a "standard anthemic device", it was subsequently expunged from the official words of the state anthem. The lyrics which also mention the inter-generational and inter-gender unity in the fight for rights are omitted.

Notes

References

External links