"South Sudan Oyee!" is the national anthem of
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
; it was selected as such by the South Sudan National Anthem Committee of the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
following the launch of a competition to find a national anthem in August 2010. This preceded the
independence referendum
An independence referendum is a type of referendum in which the residents of a territory decide whether the territory should become an Independence, independent sovereign state. An independence referendum that results in a vote for independence ...
in January 2011 that led to South Sudan becoming a
sovereign state
A sovereign state or sovereign country, is a polity, political entity represented by one central government that has supreme legitimate authority over territory. International law defines sovereign states as having a permanent population, defin ...
on 9 July 2011. "Oyee!" is an equivalent of "Hurrah!"
History
The committee received 49 entries for the anthem.
The working title of the winning entry was "
Land of Kush". A competition was held on live television in 2010.
The winning music was composed by students and teachers of
Juba University
The University of Juba ( ar, جامعة جوبا) is an English-language public university located in Juba, South Sudan. It was founded in 1975 under by the former Vice president of and President of Southern Sudan, Abel Alier Kwai. The universi ...
.
[ The Music Department was led by an Arab originally from the north.
The original version was drafted by Dr. Achier Deng Akol in 2005, following the ]Comprehensive Peace Agreement
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, ar, اتفاقية السلام الشامل, Ittifāqiyyah al-salām al-šāmil), also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was an accord signed on January 9, 2005, by the Sudan People's Liberation Moveme ...
, when it became clear that South Sudan may become independent. This original version, entitled "South Sudan Oyee", underwent a lot of improvement via specialised committees headed by Sudan People's Liberation Army
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 198 ...
General Malak Awien and former Minister of Information of South Sudan Dr. Barnaba Martial Benjamin.[Achier Deng Akol, South Sudan Oyee, Beautiful South Sudan; The Heart of Africa, 2010]
Lyrics
See also
* Flag of South Sudan
The flag of South Sudan was adopted following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. A similar version of the flag was previously used as the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. Th ...
* Coat of arms of South Sudan
The coat of arms of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan was adopted in July 2011 following independence from the Republic of Sudan. Prior to independence, South Sudan was an autonomous region of Sudan.
The design of the coat of arms was app ...
References
External links
* on live TV
* on live TV
South Sudan's national anthem
(MP3 audio file) played by the United States Navy Band
{{Nationalanthemsofafrica
National anthems
South Sudanese music
National symbols of South Sudan
2011 songs
African anthems
National anthem compositions in E-flat major