The "Warrior March", also known by its
incipit
The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...
"Come, We Shall March in Joint Endeavour", 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 ...
of the short-lived
Belarusian Democratic Republic
The Belarusian People's Republic (BNR; , ), also known as the Belarusian Democratic Republic, was a state proclaimed by the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic in its Second Constituent Charter on 9 March 1918 during World War I. The ...
that existed from 1918 to 1919.
History
The lyrics of the song were first published in 1919 in
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
, in the
newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...
''Belarus''. As the anthem of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, the song was approved in 1920, even though the republic was in exile at that time.
During the
Soviet rule of Belarus, the song was banned. However, there were attempts to adapt the lyrics to the communist ideology by replacing mentions of the national Belarusian
white-red-white flag
The white-red-white flag is a historical flag used by the Belarusian Democratic Republic in 1918 before Western Belarus was occupied by the Second Polish Republic and Eastern Belarus was occupied by the Bolsheviks (two years later becoming the ...
with those of the
Soviet red banner. Throughout the 20th century, the song was actively used by pro-independence organizations of the
Belarusian diaspora
The Belarusian diaspora () refers to emigrants from Belarus which includes their descendants.
According to different researchers, there are between 2.5 and 3.5 million Belarusian descendants living outside the territory of the Republic of Bel ...
.
After the restoration of the independence of Belarus in 1991, there were propositions to make "Vajacki marš" the national anthem of the
Republic of Belarus
A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a ...
once again. In particular, the renowned writers
Vasil Bykau,
Ales Adamovich
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Adamovich (, ; 3 September 1927 – 26 January 1994) was a Soviet Belarusian writer, screenwriter, literary critic and democratic activist. He wrote in both the Russian and Belarusian languages.
Having fought as a ch ...
and
Ryhor Baradulin issued a public appeal in favour of making "Vajacki marš" the national anthem of Belarus. Other symbols of the Belarusian Democratic Republic, such as the
Pahonia and the white-red-white flag, were restored as state symbols and used until 1995. The former anthem, however, was never restored as the country's national anthem, making the
Soviet-era anthem retain its status as the official anthem, despite the restoration of the former symbols of independence. The retained anthem did not have any lyrics until 2002, when new lyrics replaced the Soviet-era ones.
Today, "Vajacki marš" enjoys certain popularity among the
Belarusian democratic opposition and is traditionally mentioned as one of the possible alternatives to the
current official anthem.
Lyrics
See also
*"
The Warrior March", a
marching song
A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Richard ...
by the
U.S. Army Chorus with a very similar name
Notes
References
External links
Vocal recording of "Vajacki marš"Instrumental recording of "Vajacki marš"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vajacki mars
Belarusian National Republic
Historical national anthems
National symbols of Belarus
European anthems
Military music
Songs in Belarusian