View source for Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia

{{Short description|National anthem of Rhodesia (1974–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox anthem
| image         = File:Beethoven Ninth Symphony.png
| image_size    =
| caption       = A page from Beethoven's original manuscript
| title         = "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia"
|alt_title      = "Voices of Rhodesia"<ref name=nfbpwr142/>
| prefix        = Former national
| country       = <br>[[Rhodesia]] and [[Zimbabwe-Rhodesia]]
| author        = Mary Bloom
| lyrics_date   = 1974<ref name=nfbpwr142/>
| composer      = [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]
| music_date    = 1824<ref name=buch1>{{Harvnb|Buch|2004|p=1}}</ref> (arranged by Ken MacDonald, 1974)
| adopted       = {{Start date|1974|08}}<ref name=nfbpwr142/>
| until         = {{Start date|1979|12}}
| successor     = [[Ishe Komborera Africa]] (as [[national anthem of Zimbabwe]])
| predecessor   = [[God Save the King]]
| sound         = Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia.ogg <!--Do not change to a different file. This is the correct arrangement -->
| sound_title   = "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" (instrumental)
}}
{{listen
| type         = music
| filename     = Rise o voices of Rhodesia (vocal).ogg
| title        = Vocal recording of the anthem
| filetype     = [[Ogg]]
}}
"'''Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia'''" (or "'''Voices of Rhodesia'''") was the [[national anthem]] of [[Rhodesia]] and [[Zimbabwe Rhodesia]] (renamed Zimbabwe in April 1980) between 1974 and 1979. The tune was that of "[[Ode to Joy]]", the Fourth Movement from [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]], which had been adopted as the official [[Anthem of Europe|European continental anthem]] by the [[Council of Europe]] in 1972, which remains the anthem of the  [[European Union]]. The music used in Rhodesia was an original sixteen-bar arrangement by Captain Ken MacDonald, the bandmaster of the [[Rhodesian African Rifles]]. A national competition was organised by the government to find an appropriate set of lyrics to match the chosen tune, and won by Mary Bloom of [[Gwelo]].

In the fallout from [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] from the [[United Kingdom]] on 11 November 1965, the country still claimed loyalty to [[Queen Elizabeth II]] as its professed [[head of state]], and so retained "[[God Save the Queen]]" as its national anthem. With Rhodesia's [[1969 Rhodesian constitutional referendum|reconstitution in 1970]] as a [[republic]], however, the royal anthem was dropped along with many other references to the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|monarchy]], leaving it without a national anthem until it adopted "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" in 1974. The national anthem lost its legal status in December 1979, when the United Kingdom retook [[Zimbabwe Rhodesia|interim control]] of the country pending its [[Diplomatic recognition|internationally recognised]] [[independence]] as [[Zimbabwe]] five months later. Rhodesia's use of the well-known Beethoven tune has since caused the playing of "Ode to Joy" to be controversial in modern-day Zimbabwe.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

==History==

===Background===
{{National anthems of Zimbabwe}}
A dispute over the terms for the granting of full statehood to the [[self-governing colony]] of [[Rhodesia]] led its predominantly [[White minority rule|white minority]] government, headed by [[Prime Minister of Rhodesia|Prime Minister]] [[Ian Smith]], to [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|unilaterally declare independence]] from the UK on 11 November 1965. As [[Government of the United Kingdom|Whitehall]] had been insisting on [[majority rule]] as a [[no independence before majority rule|condition for independence]], this declaration went [[list of states with limited recognition|unrecognised]] and caused the UK and the [[United Nations]] to impose [[economic sanctions]] on Rhodesia. [[Queen Elizabeth II]] continued to be "Queen of Rhodesia" in the eyes of Smith's government, hence "[[God Save the Queen]]" remained the Rhodesian national anthem.<ref name="white">{{Harvnb
|White
|2015
|p=124}}</ref> Though this was intended to demonstrate Rhodesia's enduring loyalty to the Queen, the retention of a song so associated with the UK in the midst of the Anglo-Rhodesian [[Constitutional crisis|constitutional struggle]] soon gave Rhodesian state occasions "a faintly ironic tone", in the words of the London ''[[The Times|Times]]''.<ref name="buch243">{{Harvnb
|Buch
|2004
|p=243}}</ref>

===Adoption===
[[File:Beethoven wiki.jpg|thumb|upright|The Rhodesian anthem used a tune composed by [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] ''(pictured)'' in 1824.<ref name="buch1" />|alt=Black-and-white portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven, looking to the viewer's right.]]
The Rhodesian government initiated a search for a new anthem around the time of its adoption of a new [[flag of Rhodesia|green-and-white]] flag in November 1968,<ref name="vancouversun74">{{Harvnb
|Vancouver Sun
|1974}}</ref> but continued to use "God Save the Queen" until June 1969, when the mostly white electorate [[Rhodesian constitutional referendum, 1969|voted]] in favour of a republican form of government. The royal anthem officially remained in place until the formal declaration of a republic in March 1970, when it was abandoned along with numerous other overt references to the Crown.<ref name="smith152">{{Harvnb
|Smith
|1997
|p=152}}</ref><ref name="nyoka">{{Harvnb
|Nyoka
|1970}}</ref> Republican Rhodesia was without an anthem for over four years before the chosen music was announced on 28 August 1974: the Fourth Movement, commonly called "[[Ode to Joy]]", from [[Ludwig van Beethoven]]'s [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Ninth Symphony]].<ref name="vancouversun74" /> The fact that the [[Council of Europe]] had adopted this tune as the "[[Anthem of Europe]]" in January 1972 apparently did not perturb the Rhodesian government; John Sutherland and Stephen Fender comment that Rhodesia's choice proved deeply embarrassing for the UK's [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, whose leaders now had to respect a melody associated with Rhodesia when attending official European functions.<ref name="sutherlandfender">{{Harvnb
|Sutherland
|Fender
|2011
|loc=Chpt. January 20}}</ref> With a tune now in place, the Rhodesian government organised a nationwide competition to write matching lyrics, the winner of which would receive a cash prize of [[Rhodesian dollar|R$]]500 (equal to about [[US$]]1,000).<ref name="vancouversun74" />

The [[Council of Europe]], though less than pleased with Rhodesia's selection, did not object to it, reasoning that so long as Rhodesia was using "Ode to Joy" in its original form, it could not be subject to reproach as the music was long out of [[copyright]] and in the [[public domain]]. It did announce, however, that should Rhodesia use the same arrangement as the Council of Europe, then the author of that score, [[Herbert von Karajan]], would have grounds for a plagiarism lawsuit.<ref name="buch245">{{Harvnb
|Buch
|2004
|p=245}}</ref> Such an incident was averted when Rhodesia adopted an original sixteen-bar arrangement by Captain Ken MacDonald, the [[Rhodesian African Rifles]]' bandmaster. The anthem's inaugural instrumental performance in Salisbury provoked mixed reactions: some were enthusiastic—including a [[coloured]] sergeant musician who proudly told the ''[[Rhodesia Herald]]'' that "it's just like 'God Save Our Gracious Queen'"<ref name="buch247" />—but many others were disappointed that the government had not commissioned an original tune. Rhys Lewis, music critic for the ''Herald'', wrote that he was "stupefied"<ref name="buch247" /> by the government's choice, which he said was not only unoriginal, but also so associated with supranational brotherhood that it risked making internationally isolated Rhodesia the subject of ridicule. Phinias Sithole, who headed the [[African Trade Union Congress]] (a black Rhodesian trade union federation), commented that he did not believe most of the country's blacks would identify with a song chosen while people of their ethnicity remained largely absent from the government's top levels.<ref name="buch247">{{Harvnb
|Buch
|2004
|p=247}}</ref>

The winning lyricist was confirmed on 24 September 1974 to be Mary Bloom,<ref name="africaresearch">{{Harvnb
|Africa research bulletin
|1974
|p=3767}}</ref> a company director, [[music critic]] and [[poet]] from [[Gwelo]], who had moved to Rhodesia from [[Union of South Africa|South Africa]] in 1947. Bloom titled her work "Voices of Rhodesia", but the full first line, "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia", ultimately entered common parlance as the song's title.<ref name="nfbpwr142">{{Harvnb
|NFBPWR
|1976
|pp=142–143}}</ref>

Foreign observers were less than impressed; the British journalist [[Richard West (journalist)|Richard West]], remarking that white Rhodesians were "renownedly [[Philistinism|philistine]]", asked "how could one not... squirm with embarrassment when the [[TV]] ends at night with the Rhodesian national anthem to the tune of Beethoven's Choral Symphony?"<ref name="West">{{Harvnb
|West
|1978
|p=44}}</ref>

==Lyrics== 
[[File:Victoria Falls panorama.jpg|thumb|[[Victoria Falls]]. Historian J.&nbsp;L. Fisher writes that a major theme of the lyrics is the country's "magnificent landscape".<ref name="fisher60" />|alt=A majestic African scene. The viewer stands beneath a tree, overlooking the a large river from a high vantage point on a pleasant, sunny day. On each side of the river a great cliff rises above the viewer. In the distance an enormous waterfall can be seen, the spray from the water obscuring much of the view. The land is green and lush, and the river shimmers in the sun.]]
The lyrics officially adopted were as follows:<ref name="africaresearch" />
<blockquote><poem>
Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
God may we Thy bounty share.
Give us strength to face all danger,
And where challenge is, to dare.
Guide us, Lord, to wise decision,
Ever of Thy grace aware,
Oh, let our hearts beat bravely always
For this land within Thy care.

Rise, O voices of Rhodesia,
Bringing her your proud acclaim,
Grandly echoing through the mountains,
Rolling o'er the far flung plain.
Roaring in the mighty rivers,
Joining in one grand refrain,
Ascending to the sunlit heavens,
Telling of her honoured name.
</poem></blockquote>

==Fall from use and legacy==
"Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia" remained in official usage for the rest of Rhodesia's history, as well as between June and December 1979, when Rhodesia was reconstituted as [[Zimbabwe Rhodesia]], a black-ruled version of the same country, which also failed to achieve legitimacy in the eyes of the United Kingdom and the United Nations. Though the anthem remained in place during these six months, a [[Flag of Zimbabwe Rhodesia|new flag]] was adopted and Rhodesia's [[Public holidays in Rhodesia|national holidays]], largely based around colonial figures and milestones, were replaced by alternatives intended to be more inclusive: President's Day, Unity Day and Ancestors Day. The national anthem remained unchanged on 12 December 1979,<ref name="fisher60" /> when Zimbabwe Rhodesia came under the UK's control for an interim period once again as [[Southern Rhodesia]], before internationally recognised independence came in April 1980, with the country now called Zimbabwe.<ref name="wessels273">{{Harvnb
|Wessels
|2010
|p=273}}</ref> "[[Ishe Komborera Africa]]", a [[Shona language|Shona]] translation of [[Enoch Sontonga]]'s [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]] hymn "[[Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika]]" ("God Bless Africa" in English), was made Zimbabwe's first national anthem, and remained in place until 1994, when it was replaced by the present anthem, "[[Simudzai Mureza wedu WeZimbabwe]]" ("Blessed be the Land of Zimbabwe").<ref>{{Harvnb
|BBC
|2004}}</ref>

Because of its use by "Rise, O Voices of Rhodesia", the "Ode to Joy" melody is controversial in Zimbabwe, where its annual playing at [[Diplomatic mission|foreign embassies]] on [[Europe Day]] initially caused shock to [[Politics of Zimbabwe|Zimbabwean government]] officials who, according to historian Josephine Fisher, had not previously been aware of the tune's use by the Council of Europe.<ref name="fisher60" /> During the 1980s, [[Derek Hudson]], the long-time conductor of the [[Bulawayo Philharmonic Orchestra]], had considerable difficulty securing official permission to give the first Zimbabwean performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He was eventually able to do so, but only after prolonged negotiations with the authorities.<ref name="telegraph07">{{Harvnb
|Bullivant
|2007}}</ref> When "Ode to Joy" was included in a fundraising organ recital held by a [[Harare]] church at Christmas 1994, it provoked angry protests from some who attended.<ref name="fisher60">{{Harvnb
|Fisher
|2010
|p=60}}</ref>

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

;Newspaper and journal articles
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite news
|first=Michael
|last=Bullivant
|title=Zimbabwe music lovers in harmony
|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/4205045/Zimbabwe-music-lovers-in-harmony.html
|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]
|location=London
|date=12 December 2007
|access-date=18 February 2012
}}
*{{cite news
|first=Justin V&nbsp;J
|last=Nyoka
|title=Smith regime doing away with last British influences
|journal=[[The Afro-American]]
|location=Baltimore, Maryland
|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2211&dat=19700718&id=5iYmAAAAIBAJ&pg=2344,379690
|page=22
|date=18 July 1970
|access-date=25 January 2012
}}
*{{cite web
|title=Zimbabwe athlete sings own anthem
|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3906619.stm
|work=[[BBC]]
|location=London
|date=19 July 2004
|access-date=18 February 2012
|ref={{harvid|BBC|2004}}}}
*{{cite news
|title=Rhodesia picks Ode to Joy
|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cHBmAAAAIBAJ&pg=6475,5011881&dq
|work=[[The Vancouver Sun]]
|location=Vancouver, British Columbia
|publisher=Postmedia News
|page=12
|date=30 August 1974
|access-date=25 January 2012
|ref={{harvid|Vancouver Sun|1974}}}}
{{refend}}

;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|title=Beethoven's Ninth: A Political History
|last=Buch
|first=Esteban
|others=Trans. Miller, Richard
|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]
|location=Chicago, Illinois
|date=May 2004
|orig-year=1999
|isbn=978-0-226-07824-3
}}
*{{cite book
|title=Pioneers, settlers, aliens, exiles: the decolonisation of white identity in Zimbabwe
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ihK0ofGjIlgC&q=%22Ode+to+Joy%22&pg=PA60 
|last=Fisher
|first=J L
|publisher=[[Australian National University|ANU E Press]]
|location=Canberra
|year=2010
|isbn=978-1-921666-14-8
}}
*{{cite book
|title=[[The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Ian Douglas Smith]]
|last=Smith
|first=Ian
|author-link=Ian Smith
|date=June 1997
|location=London
|publisher=[[John Blake Publishing]]
|isbn=1-85782-176-9
}}
*{{cite book
|title=Love, Sex, Death & Words: Surprising Tales from a Year in Literature
|last1=Sutherland
|first1=John
|last2=Fender
|first2=Stephen
|publisher=Icon Books
|location=London
|year=2011
|orig-year=2010
|isbn=978-1-84831-247-0
}}
*{{cite book
|title=P K van der Byl: African Statesman
|last=Wessels
|first=Hannes
|location=Johannesburg
|publisher=30° South Publishers
|date=July 2010
|isbn=978-1-920143-49-7
}}
*{{cite book
|title=The White Tribes Revisited
|last=West
|first=Richard
|publisher= Private Eye Productions in association with Deutsch
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3EMAQAAIAAJ&q=anthem
|date=1978 
|isbn=9780233970455 
}}
*{{cite book
|title=Unpopular Sovereignty: Rhodesian Independence and African Decolonization
|last=White
|first=Luise
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W0KNBgAAQBAJ&q=anthem%20rhodesia&pg=PA124
|date=2015
|publisher=University of Chicago Press
|isbn=9780226235196
}}
*{{cite book
|title=Africa research bulletin: Political, social, and cultural series. ''Volumes 11–12''
|publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell]]
|location=Oxford
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QxFVAAAAYAAJ
|year=1974
|ref={{harvid|Africa research bulletin|1974}}}}
*{{cite book
|title=Profiles of Rhodesia's women
|publisher=National Federation of Business and Professional Women of Rhodesia
|location=Salisbury
|date=January 1976
|isbn=978-0-7974-0167-9
|ref={{harvid|NFBPWR|1976}}}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.thenewrbc.com/music/Songsofrhodesia/14%20National%20Anthem.mp3 MP3 version] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201008193512/http://www.thenewrbc.com/music/Songsofrhodesia/14%20National%20Anthem.mp3 |date=8 October 2020 }}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYJTSuRwfsI Anthem on Rhodesian Television, 1970s]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wk331TWzI4 Children's Choral Version – 1978]

{{National anthems of Africa}}
{{Rhodesian topics}}
{{Beethoven symphonies}}
{{Symphony No. 9}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use South African English|date=May 2012}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Historical national anthems|Rhodesia]]
[[Category:1974 songs]]
[[Category:History of Rhodesia]]
[[Category:National anthems|Rhodesia]]
[[Category:National symbols of Rhodesia]]
[[Category:Rhodesian patriotic songs]]
[[Category:African anthems]]
[[Category:Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in music]]
[[Category:Popular songs based on classical music]]
[[Category:Arrangements of compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven]]
[[Category:Ode to Joy]]