"" () 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 ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. The title literally means "song of the king of the Tonga Islands" in the

Tongan language Tongan (English pronunciation: or ; ') is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga. It has around 187,000 speakers. It uses the word order verb–subject–object. Related languages Tongan is one ...

but is in daily life better known as "", which translates to "National Song". The lyrics of the

anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...

were written by Tongan Prince Uelingatoni Ngū Tupoumalohi, with the music by German-born New Zealand composer Karl Gustavus Schmitt. It was first used in 1874.

Lyrics

Music notation

The music in Western music notation and the , or

Tongan music notation The Tuungafasi or Tongan music notation is a subset of the standard music notation, originally developed by the missionary James Egan Moulton in the 19th century for singing church hymns in Tonga. The notation Tongan music from the pre-European t ...

Notes

References

External links

* *YouTube
Ko E Fasi 'O E Tu'i 'O E 'Otu Tonga (The Tune of the King of the Tongan Isles)
Oceanian anthems National symbols of Tonga Tongan music National anthems National anthem compositions in F major Tongan-language songs {{Tonga-stub