"Forever Marshall Islands" (), also known by its incipit, "" ("Our Islands"), 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 n ...
of the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
. The lyrics were written by former President
Amata Kabua
Amata Kabua (November 17, 1928 – December 19, 1996) was the first President of the Marshall Islands from 1979 until his death in 1996 (five consecutive terms).
Background
Amata Kabua was a scion of Marshallese Royalty. Amata Kabua is the son o ...
, and the music was composed by Korean composer Gil ok-yun (also known by his Japanese name, Jun Yoshiya, 吉屋潤) by the request of President Kabua. The song was finished and recorded at Oasis Records in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
.
Kabua and Gil became acquaintances after Jiyong (池勇), an economic adviser for President Amata Kabua, introduced Gil Ok Yun to Kabua.
The anthem was adopted in 1991. It replaced a previous national anthem, "".
Marshall Islands Overview at Encyclopedia of Nations
/ref>
Lyrics
Notes
References
External links
Streaming audio of ''Forever Marshall Islands'', with lyrics and information
archive link
* Sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...
of the anthem (in PDF
Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...
format
*Listen to an instrumental version of ''Forever Marshall Islands'
(mp3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
)
{{Authority control
Oceanian anthems
National symbols of the Marshall Islands
Marshallese music
National anthems
National anthem compositions in C major