SPANISH LYRICS

1. ¡Guatemala feliz! que tus aras
No profane jamás el verdugo;
Ni haya esclavos que laman el yugo
Ni tiranos que escupan tu faz.
 
Si mañana tu suelo sagrado
Lo amenaza invasión extranjera,
Libre al viento tu hermosa bandera
A vencer o a morir llamará.

CHORUS:
Libre al viento tu hermosa bandera
A vencer o a morir llamará.
Que tu pueblo con ánima fiera
Antes muerto que esclavo será.
 
2. De tus viejas y duras cadenas
Tú forjaste con mano iracunda
El arado que el suelo fecunda
Y la espada que salva el honor.
 
Nuestros padres lucharon un día
Encendidos en patrio ardimiento
Y lograron sin choque sangriento
Colocarte en un trono de amor,

CHORUS: 
Y lograron sin choque sangriento
Colocarte en un trono de amor,
Que de patria, en enérgico acento,
Dieron vida al ideal redentor.
 
3. Es tu enseña pedazo de cielo
En que prende una nube su albura,
Y ay de aquel que con ciega locura,
Sus colores pretenda manchar!
 
Pues tus hijos valientes y altivos,
Que veneran la paz cual presea,
Nunca esquivan la ruda pelea
Si defienden su tierra y su hogar,

CHORUS: 
Nunca esquivan la ruda pelea
Si defienden su tierra y su hogar,
Que es tan sólo el honor su alma idea
Y el altar de la patria su altar.
 
 
4. Recostada en el ande soberbio,
De dos mares al ruido sonoro,
Bajo el ala de grana y de oro
Te adormeces del bello quetzal.
 
Ave indiana que vive en tu escudo
Paladión que protege tu suelo;
¡Ojalá que remonte su vuelo,
Más que el cóndor y el águila real

CHORUS: 
¡Ojalá que remonte su vuelo,
Más que el cóndor y el águila real
Y en sus alas levante hasta el cielo,
Guatemala, tu nombre inmortal! 

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION
 
1. Fortunate Guatemala! May your altars
Never be profaned by cruel men.
May there never be slaves who submit to their yoke,
Or tyrants who deride you.
If tomorrow your sacred soil
Should be threatened by foreign invasion,
Your fair flag, flying freely in the wind,
Will call to you: Conquer or die.

CHORUS:
Your fair flag, flying freely in the wind,
Will call to you: Conquer or die;
For your people, with heart and soul,
Would prefer death to slavery.

2. From your old and hard chains  
You forged, with an ire-driven hand,  
The plow that fertilizes the soil  
And the sword that saves honor.  
 
Our fathers fought one day,  
Lit up in patriotic burning  
And they were able, without bloody clash,  
To place you on a throne of love.  

CHORUS: 
And they were able, without bloody clash,  
To place you on a throne of love,  
That our Nation, in energetic assent,  
Gave life to the ideal redeemer. 
 
3. Your emblem shows a piece of the sky  
In which a cloud gets its whiteness  
Wretched is he who dares in madness  
stain your colors  
 
Well, your brave and proud sons  
who admire the peace within  
will never avoid the rough battles  
if they are to defend their land and their home.  
 
CHORUS: 
They will never avoid the rough battles  
if they are to defend their land and their home  
that honor is the idea that reigns their souls  
and the altar of the mother country their altar 
 
4. Lying in the magnificent Ande  
with two oceans at hearing distance  
under the wing of seeds and gold  
you become entranced from the beautiful quetzal  
 
Native bird that lives in your seal  
protector that protects your soil  
hopefully he will fly high  
more than the condor and the royal eagle!  
 
CHORUS: 
Hopefully he will fly high  
more than the condor and the royal eagle  
and in his wings, raise up to the sky:  
Guatemala, your immortal name! 


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Guatemala

Words by:José Joaquín Palma
Music by:Rafael Alvarez Ovalle
Adopted:1897 (lyrics slightly modified in 1934)

Written in response to a contest calling for a national anthem to be adopted,
the first ever playing of the winning entry took place during a lyric-literary
meeting taking place at the Colon Theater, the night of Sunday 14 March 1897,
as one of the main events of the Central American Exposition, and the author of
the music -Maestro Rafael Alvarez- was decorated with a gold medal and honor
diploma. The author of the lyrics, however, was submitted anonymously, it was
not until 1911, when it was discovered that the author was the Cuban poet Jose
Joaquin Palma, who on his deathbed was honored with a silver wreath placed on
his head, while outside the public and the bands sang the Himno Nacional.

The lyrics were modified slightly in 1934 by Professor Jose Maria Bonilla
Ruano, a Spanish grammar scholar. Some verses were softened in their bloody
context while others were enhanced in their poetic beauty.

The anthem has four verses (including four separate choruses at the end of each
verse). Unlike many other nations with multi-verse anthems, all four verses are
official and sung in Guatemala.

Special thanks to:Tulio Soto for some of this information.

MUSIC
