"Forged from the Love of Liberty" 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 the

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. Originally composed as the national anthem for the short-lived

West Indies Federation The West Indies Federation, also known as the West Indies, the Federation of the West Indies or the West Indian Federation, was a short-lived political union that existed from 3 January 1958 to 31 May 1962. Various islands in the Caribbean that ...

(1958–1962), this song was edited and adopted by Trinidad and Tobago when it became independent in 1962. It was written and composed by Patrick S. Castagne.

History

Patrick Castagne, a renowned West Indian songwriter, was employed at the Trinidad and Tobago Commission in London. One of his compositions, called "A Song for the Islands" or "A Song for Federation", was submitted to the West Indies Federation as a possible anthem. Castagne's "A Song For Federation" provided the musical inspiration that could have matched the foundation of a strong federation had it survived. The close resemblance between the national anthem of Trinidad and Tobago and "A Song For Federation" can seen from the lyrics of the latter, as follows: When the Federation collapsed, he changed some of the lines and resubmitted the song to Trinidad and Tobago for the competition to choose its national anthem. In total, the competition received 834 word-only entries, 33 music-only entries and 306 entries with both words and music. Castagne's submission came out on top, and he won the prize of $5,000.00 in

government bond A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of bond issued by a government to support public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called coupon payments'','' and to repay the face value on the maturity dat ...

s and a gold medal inscribed with the

coat of arms of Trinidad and Tobago The coat of arms of Trinidad and Tobago was designed by a committee formed in 1962 to select the symbols that would be representative of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. The committee included artist Carlisle Chang (1921–2001) and carnival de ...

. Castagne's alteration of "A Song for Federation" was deemed to be most suitable for a twin-island state that consisted of "islands of the blue Caribbean Sea" standing "side by side" in promoting the values of "every creed and race" finding "an equal place" in the

multi-racial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...

, multi-religious and multi-cultural society of Trinidad and Tobago as it existed in 1962. It was considered to have reflected the nature and the strength of the people of Trinidad and Tobago and their courage as one nation working towards living in unity despite the existing diversity. According to the editorial in the ''Sunday Guardian'' of 19 August 1962: :In its solemn declaration of brotherhood and unity, it very neatly includes Tobago with Trinidad without mentioning the name of either ("Side by side we stand, islands of the blue Caribbean Sea"); and as an added impulse to unity it goes on to describe them together as "our native land," ending with the petition, "And may God bless our nation."

Lyrics

References

External links

Forged from the Love of Liberty
(Without vocals)
Forged from the Love of Liberty
(With vocals - Male)
Forged from the Love of Liberty
(With vocals - Female) {{authority control North American anthems National symbols of Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago songs 1962 songs West Indies Federation Year of song missing National anthems National anthem compositions in F minor National anthem compositions in F major