"" ("Let us unite, let us become brothers") is the officially recognised

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 sho ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. It was written by a group from the children's choir Mélodia in 2008 and officially adopted in 2010. It is not 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 ...

of New Caledonia; as a special collectivity of France, the national anthem is the French national anthem, " La Marseillaise". During official ceremonies or sports events, "La Marseillaise" is performed first, followed by "Soyons unis, devenons frères".

History

In 1998, the Nouméa Accord delegated greater autonomy to the territory and provided that its people would ultimately have the right to vote for full independence, in 2014 at the earliest and in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

at the latest. In the meantime, the Accord provided for the gradual recognition of five "identity signs": an anthem, a motto, local symbols on New Caledonian currency, a flag and a potential new name for the territory. For the anthem, a competition was held by the Government of New Caledonia in 2008. The winning entry was written in January 2008 by seven New Caledonian children between the ages of 10 and 13 from the children's choral group Mélodia. It was performed for the first time on 26 June 2008. On 18 August 2010, the Congress of New Caledonia officially adopted the anthem, alongside an official motto (""; "Land of speech, land of sharing") and local symbols on New Caledonian currency. There was not yet agreement on recognition of a

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

or a new name for the territory at the time. Congress deputies reserved the possibility of amending the lyrics of the anthem at a later date."La Nouvelle-Calédonie se dote d'un hymne et d'une devise"
''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', 18 August 2010

Lyrics

In its long version, the anthem consists of three verses and a chorus. The verses are sung in French; the chorus is sung in Nengone then in French. There were initial plans to translate it eventually into other indigenous languages, which were carried out in the years following the anthem's creation. When only the short version of the anthem is sung, it consists of the third verse and the chorus (in Nengone and French).

Original Nengone chorus

The following is the original chorus in Nengone written by the Mélodia choir in 2008.

In other languages

On 24 September 2016, for New Caledonia Day (or Citizenship Day), the Mélodia choral performed a version of the anthem that included the chorus sung in several additional languages, including indigenous languages, Chinese,

Réunion Creole Réunion Creole, or Reunionese Creole (; ), is a French-based creole languages, French-based creole language spoken on Réunion. It is derived mainly from French language, French and includes terms from Malagasy language, Malagasy, Hindi, Port ...

, Standard German, Spanish and Russian.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soyons unis, devenons freres 2008 compositions Anthems of non-sovereign states Oceanian anthems French anthems Culture of New Caledonia