"Liberate the South" ( vi, Giải phóng miền Nam, ) was 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 Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam from 1969 to 1976. The anthem was composed by the famous trio

Lưu Hữu Phước Lưu Hữu Phước (12 September 1921 in Cần Thơ, Cochinchina – 8 June 1989 in Hồ Chí Minh City, Vietnam) was a Vietnamese composer, a member of the National Assembly, and Chairman of the Committee of Culture and Education of the National ...

, Mai Văn Bộ and Huỳnh Văn Tiểng under the common pseudonym ''Huỳnh Minh Siêng''.

History

After the establishment of National Liberation Front of South Vietnam in December 1960, the Front leaders proceeded to make a song as its official

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 ...

. This mission is assigned to the three writers of the famous trio Hoàng - Mai - Lưu:

, Mai Văn Bộ, and Huỳnh Văn Tiểng. Phạm Hùng, Secretary of the

Central Office of South Vietnam Central Office for South Vietnam (abbreviated COSVN ; vi, Văn phòng Trung ương Cục miền Nam), officially known as the Central Executive Committee of the People's Revolutionary Party from 1962 until its dissolution in 1976, was the Ameri ...

, outlined the requirements about the ordered anthem:Nhạc sĩ Lưu Hữu Phước với bài ca ‘Giải phóng miền Nam’
/ref>
/ref> *The anthem's targets were all of the population of South Vietnam. *The anthem had to call for the armed insurrection against the US-backed Saigon regime and the unification of Vietnam as a whole. *The authors had to use a novel pseudonym to maintain the indepdence of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. *The song had to be easy to remember, sing, perform and popularize. Mai Văn Bộ and Huỳnh Văn Tiểng wrote the lyrics and Lưu Hữu Phước composed the music. The trio decided to use a new pseudonym "Huỳnh Minh Liêng", with the letter H, M, L representing the family name of each member. However, the printing houses mistook the word "L" for "S", hence the pseudonym was mistakenly published as "Huỳnh Minh Siêng". The author trio decided to left the misspelled pseudonym as it is because "Siêng" (meaning "diligent") was considered to be a good name. The anthem received positive feedback from the local members and the central body of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. COSVN Secretary Phạm Hùng was very pleased with the song's quality; when the song was tested for the first time he jubilantly stood up and said: "''Great job! Very good song! Congratulation and thanks, comrades!"''.

Lyrics

Vietnamese lyrics

Giải phóng miền Nam, chúng ta cùng quyết tiến bước.
Diệt Đế quốc Mỹ, phá tan bè lũ bán nước.
Ôi xương tan máu rơi, lòng hận thù ngất trời.
Sông núi bao nhiêu năm cắt rời.
Đây Cửu Long hùng tráng. Đây Trường Sơn vinh quang.
Thúc giục đoàn ta xung phong đi giết thù.
Vai sát vai chung một bóng cờ. Vùng lên! Nhân dân miền Nam anh hùng!
Vùng lên! Xông pha vượt qua bão bùng.
Thề cứu lấy nước nhà! Thề hy sinh đến cùng!
Cầm gươm, ôm súng, xông tới!
Vận nước đã đến rồi. Bình minh chiếu khắp nơi.
Nguyện xây non nước sáng tươi muôn đời.

English translation

To liberate the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

, we decided to

advance Advance commonly refers to: *Advance, an offensive push in sports, games, thoughts, military combat, or sexual or romantic pursuits *Advance payment for goods or services *Advance against royalties, a payment to be offset against future royalty pa ...

,
To exterminate the

American imperialists American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...

, and destroy the traitors of the nation.
Oh bones have broken, and blood has fallen, the hatred is rising high.
Our country has been separated for so long.
Here, the sacred

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...

, here, glorious

Truong Son Mountains The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major mountain range of eastern Indochina, extending approximately through Laos, Vietnam, ...

Are urging us to advance to kill the enemy,
Shoulder to shoulder, under a common flag!
Arise! Ye brave people of the South!
Arise! Let us go through these storms.
We'll save the homeland, to the end we'll sacrifice!
Hold your swords and guns, let us go forward!
The chance is coming up, the sun shines everywhere.
We'll

build up ''Build Up'' is the solo debut by Rita Lee, originally released in 1970 during her time with Os Mutantes. Despite the moderate success of the single "José (Joseph)", the album failed to captivate listeners in Brazil. All Music Guide entry/ref> ...

our nation, forever shining.

References

External links