"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 European n ...

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 To ...

; it was adopted in 1957.

History

The music for the national anthem was originally composed by

Philip Gbeho Philip Comi Gbeho (14 January 1904 – 24 September 1976) was a Ghanaian musician, composer and teacher. He is best known for his composition of the God Bless Our Homeland Ghana, Ghana National Anthem. He was instrumental in the establishment o ...

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 in ...

. 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

’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 The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was established by law in 1968 with a triple mandate as a State Broadcaster, Public Service Broadcaster, and a Commercial Broadcaster in Ghana. Headquartered in the capital city, Accra, it is funded by gr ...

(GBC),

Uniiq FM Uniiq is a public radio station in Accra, the capital town of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The station is owned and run by the state broadcaster - the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was established ...

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"
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