National Anthem of Scotland

Information about National Anthem of Scotland

There is no official national anthem of Scotland[1]. However, there is a complex and on-going social and political dispute amongst many contenders for the title of the nation's de jure song, which has polarised much of the public.

Scotland does not possess a legally recognised or confirmed anthem of its own. The former Scottish government (a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition) took the view that "God Save the Queen" (the customary hymn sung as the UK anthem, itself unofficial) should be used for Scotland. However, "God Save the Queen" is not popular in all parts of Scotland, partly because of a verse, current in the mid-eighteenth century, which included the line "Rebellious Scots to crush". Although this verse was only ever used briefly (and the reference was to the Jacobites specifically rather than the Scottish nation as a whole)[2] it is still widely perceived as being anti-Scottish.

A separate anthem is widely supported (not simply by the supporters of independence) because in practice there are many situations (for example, sporting events) where a discrete Scottish anthem is necessary (see sport in Scotland). As a result, Scotland uses a variety of compositions in varying roles and with varying levels of support for recognition.

Possible candidates

The two most popular candidates for the role according to an opinion poll are "Flower of Scotland" and "Scotland the Brave" but various other songs including "Scots Wha Hae", "A Man's a Man for a' that", "Freedom Come-All-Ye, Both sides the Tweed", "Caledonia", "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and "Highland Cathedral" have some level of support.

A minor complication with "Flower of Scotland" is that, when played on the bagpipes, one note in the last line (on the word "think") cannot be played correctly. It should be a C natural (when played in the key of D) but this note is not available on the bagpipes, so a C sharp is substituted. (The bagpipes are playing nominally in the key of D (actually in A Mixolydian); in fact the intonation is such that the key is E flat, or slightly higher).

Examples of use

The use of each song is wildly different. For example "Scotland the Brave" is used by the Commonwealth team representing The Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland during the medal-receiving ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games, whereas "Flower of Scotland" is played before every game of the Scottish national football team and before every game of the Scottish rugby union team.[3]

"A Man's a Man for a' that" was also sung at the opening of the Scottish Parliament by Sheena Wellington, though not for specific national anthem purposes.

Future discussion

Despite recent coverage by "The Scotsman" newspaper, the Scottish Parliament has yet to convene any parliamentary debate on the issue, with Holyrood's Enterprise Committee denying a motion from Scottish National Party MSP Michael Matheson on the subject.[4]

In June 2006 the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted an online poll to choose the favourite song. With over 10,000 votes cast, "Flower of Scotland" came first with 41% of the votes, followed by "Scotland the Brave" with 29%.[5]

Tune Votes (%)
"Flower of Scotland"41%
"Scotland the Brave"29%
"Highland Cathedral"16%
"A Man's A Man for A' That"7%
"Scots Wha Hae"6%

References



National anthems of Europe
National anthems of states: Albania | Andorra | Armenia | Azerbaijan | Austria | Belarus | Belgium | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bulgaria | Croatia | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark | Estonia | Finland | France | Georgia | Germany | Greece | Hungary | Iceland | Republic of Ireland | Italy | Kazakhstan | Latvia | Liechtenstein | Lithuania | Luxembourg | Macedonia, Republic of | Malta | Moldova | Monaco | Montenegro | Netherlands | Norway | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russia | San Marino | Serbia | Slovakia | Slovenia | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Turkey | Ukraine | United Kingdom | Vatican City
National anthems of non-sovereign entities: Åland (Finland) | Basque Country (Spain) | Brittany (France) | Catalonia (Spain) | England (UK) | Faroe Islands (Denmark) | Flanders (Belgium) | Galicia (Spain) | Gibraltar (UK) | Greenland (Denmark) | Guernsey | Northern Ireland (UK) | Jersey | Republic of Karelia (Russia) | Macedonia (Greece) | Isle of Man | Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan) | Occitania | Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) | Scotland (UK) | Sealand | Svalbard (Norway) | Tatarstan (Russia) | Transnistria (Moldova) | Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (Cyprus) | Wales (UK) | Wallonia (Belgium)
Scotland

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Scotland

Scottish Parliament
Scottish Executive
Presiding Officer
First Minister
Lord Advocate
Solicitor General
Members of Parliament (MSPs)
Local government
Elections
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Motto
Nemo me impune lacessit   (Latin)
"No one provokes me with impunity"
"Cha togar m'fhearg gun dioladh"   
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Scottish Government (SG) (Scottish Gaelic: Riaghaltas na h-Alba) is the executive arm of government of Scotland. It was established in 1999 as the Scottish Executive
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Scottish Labour Party
Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba

Leader Wendy Alexander

Founded 1909
Headquarters John Smith House
145 West Regent Street
Glasgow
G2 4RE

Political ideology
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Scottish Liberal Democrats

Leader Nicol Stephen

Founded 1988
Headquarters 4 Clifton Terrace
Edinburgh
EH12 5DR

Political ideology Social liberalism
Political position Centre-Left, Federalism, Unionism

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"God Save the Queen", or "God Save the King", is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms; it currently serves as the national anthem of the United Kingdom, one of the two national anthems of New Zealand, and the royal anthem of Canada and of Australia.
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For other meanings see hymn (disambiguation)


A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a god or other religiously significant figure.
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The 18th Century lasted from 1701 through 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.

Historians sometimes specifically define the 18th Century otherwise for the purposes of their work.
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Jacobitism was (and, to a very limited extent, remains) the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland. The movement took its name from the Latin form Jacobus of the name of King James II and VII.
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Scotland

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Scotland

  • Scots law
  • Scottish Parliament
  • Acts

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Sport in Scotland, with all-weather sports like football, rugby union and golf dominating the national sporting consciousness. However, many other sports are played in the country, with popularity varying between sports and between regions.
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Flower of Scotland (Flùir na h-Alba in Gaelic) is an unofficial national anthem of Scotland, a role for which it competes against the older Scotland the Brave. In common with England among the Home Nations, Scotland has no official national anthem.
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"Scotland the Brave" (Scottish Gaelic: Alba an Aigh) is a patriotic song and one of the main contenders to be considered as a national anthem of Scotland. In June 2006, the song came second to Flower of Scotland in an online poll with more than 10,000 votes to determine
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Scots Wha Hae (a calque on the English Scots Who Have; the traditional Scots idiom would be Scots That Haes; Scottish Gaelic: Brosnachadh Bhruis
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The Scots song "Is There For Honest Poverty", by Robert Burns, is more commonly known as "A Man's A Man For A' That", and famous for its expression of egalitarian ideas of society, which may be seen as anticipating the ideas of liberalism that arose in the 18th century, and
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Freedom Come-All-Ye is a song written by Hamish Henderson, the Scottish poet, songwriter, and intellectual. It is written in the Scots Language.

Freedom Come-All-Ye, one of Henderson's most important songs, gives a non-romantic, revisionist view of the role of the Scots in
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"Both sides the Tweed" is a reworking by singer Dick Gaughan of a traditional song from 1707 attributed to James Hogg about the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England. Gaughan made minor changes to the words and added his own tune [1] .
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"Caledonia" (also known as "Jean and Caledonia") is a Scottish folk ballad that dates back to 1904. "Sair, sair was my heart, an' the tears stood in my een/As I viewed my native hills an' I thought upon my Jean.
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Released August 1988 (UK), March 2007 (UK Re-release), 1993 (US)
Format 7", Cassette, CD
Recorded 1988, 2007
Genre Rock
Folk Rock
Length 3:37
3:42 (2007 release)
Label Chrysalis
Producer(s) The Proclaimers
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Highland Cathedral is a popular bagpipe tune written by German musicians Ulrich Roever and Michael Korb[1] in a Scottish style. It has been proposed as the Scottish national anthem to replace unofficial anthems Scotland the Brave and/or Flower of Scotland.
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Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The term is equally correct in the singular or plural, although pipers most commonly talk of "pipes" and "the bagpipe.
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diatonic scale (from the Greek διατονικος, meaning "[progressing] through tones", also known as the heptatonia prima
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In music theory, the key identifies the tonic triad, the chord, major or minor, which represents the final point of rest for a piece, or the focal point of a section. Although the key of a piece may be named in the title (e.g.
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note has two primary meanings: 1) a sign used in music to represent the relative duration and pitch of a sound; and 2) a pitched sound itself. Notes are the "atoms" of much Western music: discretizations of musical phenomena that facilitate performance, comprehension, and analysis
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C#
Paradigm: structured, imperative, object-oriented
Appeared in: 2001 (last revised 2005)
Designed by: Microsoft Corporation
Typing discipline: static, strong, both safe and unsafe, nominative
Major implementations: .NET Framework, Mono, DotGNU
Dialects: 1.
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Intonation, in music, is a player's realization of pitch accuracy.

Strings

In string instruments, intonation is more of a worry than in other instruments. Because many string instruments are unfretted, if a finger is too high or too low by even a fraction of a centimetre,
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Headquarters
(and largest city)
Official languages English
Membership 53 sovereign states
Leaders
 -  Head of the Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth II
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Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland (CGCS) is the national sporting organisation responsible for entering a Scotland team in the Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games.
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Commonwealth Games is a multinational, multi-sport event. Held every four years, it involves the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. Attendance at the Commonwealth Games is typically around 5,000 athletes.
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