Today we celebrate our "Independence Day"
2 Comments Published by Ali on Tuesday, 14 August 2007 at 13:26.
The cheesy line of the title is taken from the movie Independence Day. In a Survey conducted for Warburton in 2000, it has been rated as the 7th most cheesiest movie line of all times.
Today is Pakistan is celebrating 60 years of independence. Since, the only Pakistanis in Congo are the ones who work in Warid Congo, we decided to get together at one of our guesthoues at midnight. As the clock struck 12, ten of us started singing the national anthem Pak sar zamin shadbad (Blessed be the sacred Land) at the top of our voices. Unfortunately, we are not very good at it; not only we sang out of tune, but also forgot lines. The performance can be view on YouTube video below:For those who are neither Pakistani nor Congolese, the national anthems are as follows:
PakistanPak sar-Zamin shadbad
Blessed be the sacred Land
Kishwar-e-haseen shadbad
Happy be the bounteous realm
Too nishan-e-azm-e-aalishan
Symbol of high resolve
Arz-e-Pakistan
Land of Pakistan
Markaz-e-yaqeen shadbad
Blessed be thou citadel of faith
Pak sar-Zamin ka nizam
The order of this sacred land
Quwat-e-Ukhuwat-e-Awam
Is the might of the brotherhood of the People
Qoum, Mulk, Saltanat
May the nation, the country, and the state
Painda tabinda bad
Shine in glory everlasting
Shadbad manzal-e-murad
Blessed be the goal of our ambition
Parcham-e-Sitara-o-Hilal
This Flag of the Crescent and Star
Rehbar-e-taraqqi-o-kamaal
Leads the way to progress and perfection
Tarjaman-e-Mazi, Shan-e-hal
Interpreter of our past, glory of our present
Jan-e-istaqbal
Inspiration of our future
Saya-e-Khuda-e-zuljalal
Symbol of Almighty's protection
Written & Adopted in 1952.
En ce jour le soleil se lève
On this day the sun rises
Et notre Congo resplendit.
And our Congo stands resplendent.
Une longue nuit s'achève,
A long night is ended,
Un grand bonheur a surgi.
a great happiness has come.
Chantons tous avec ivresse
Let us all, with wild joyfulness, sing
le chant de la liberté.
The song of freedom.
Congolais, debout fièrement partout,
Arise, Congolese, proud every man,
Proclamons l'union de notre nation,
Proclaim the unity of our nation.
Oublions ce qui nous divise,
Let us forget what divides us
soyons plus unis que jamais,
And become more united than ever.
Vivons pour notre devise:
Let us live our motto:
Unité, travail, progrès!
Unity, work, progress.
Vivons pour notre devise:
Let us live our motto:
Unité, travail, progrès!
Unity, work, progress.
Des forêts jusqu'à la savanne,
From the forest to the bush,
Des savannes jusqu'à la mer,
From the bush to the ocean,
Un seul peuple, une seule âme,
One people, one soul,
Un seul coer, ardent et fier,
One heart, ardent and proud.
Luttons tous, tant que nous sommes,
Let us all fight, every one of us,
Pour notre vieux pays noir.
For our black country.
CHORUS:
Et s'il nous faut mourir, en somme
And if we have to die,
Qu'importe puisque nos enfants,
What does it really matter? Our children
Partout, pourront dire comme
Everywhere will be able to say how
On triomphe en combattant,
Triumph comes through battle,
Et dans le moindre village
And in the smallest village
Chantent sous nos trois couleurs
Sing beneath our three colours.
Written & Adopted: 1959, replaced 1969, restored 1991
Labels: congo, independence day, pakistan
Nice to hear the 'national anthem'! Keep your spirits high gents. If you can upload a presentation by one of our teammates from Sales Operations (& Ali I will send it to you tomorrow) it is much better than one our ads :)
Enough of Warid.......reading the translations of both the country's anthem made me realized that our forefathers were much more peaceful in their thinking than Congo & I am sure some other countries as well.............wonder how we got the terrorist stigma on us :(
A few examples of war & bloodshed being mentioned in other anthems as a reference is quoted:
1. French Anthem:
L'étandard sanglant est levé,
(The bloody flag is raised)
Entendez-vous, dans la compagnes
(Do you hear in the countryside)
Mugir ces farouches soldats
(The roar of these savage soldiers)
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
(They come right into our arms)
Egorger vos fils,
(To cut the throats of your sons)
Aux armes citoyens!
(To arms, citizens!)
Formez vos bataillons
(Form up your battalions)
Marchons, marchons!
(Let us march, Let us march!)
Qu'un sang impur
(That their impure blood)
Abreuve nos sillons.
(Should water our fields)
2. United States:
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Similarly it was interesting browsing to find that I could hardly find any Muslim country i.e. a country with state religion as Islam with antherm lyrics which suggests such atrocities or should I say use such violent languauge. Maybe I exhibited a bias in searching less before writing this comment but face it these few examples state something................after all how many times have you heard the line "All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims!!!"
pilgrim comes home!! I could see how you enjoyed the oil dipped unda paratha (omelete & well paratha is paratha!)
Enjoy your stay in Pakistan