DIVEHI LYRICS

CHORUS:
Gavmii mi ekuverikan matii tibegen kuriime salaam,
Gavmii bahun gina heyo du'aa
Kuramun Kuriimesalaam.

Gavmii nishaanang hurumataa ekuboo lambai tibegen
Audaanakan libigen e vaa didaak kuriime salaam.

CHORUS

Nasraa nasibaa kaamyaabuge ramzakang himenee
Fessaa rataai hudaa ekii fenumun kuriime salaam.

CHORUS

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION
 
CHORUS:

In National Unity do we salute our Nation.
In the National language do we offer our prayers
And salute our Nation.

We bow in respect to the Emblem of our Nation,
And salute the Flag so exalted.

CHORUS

We salute the colours of our Flag;
Green, Red and White,
Which symbolise Victory, Blessing and Success.

CHORUS


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Maldives
"Gaumee Salaam" (National Salute)

Words by:Mohamed Jameel Didi
Music by:Wannakuwattawaduge Don Amaradeva
Adopted:1948 (words), 1972 (music)

Until the late 1940s the state anthem of the Maldives was a melody with no
lyrics. It was called the Salaamathi and was performed by the royal band on
state occasions at the Etherekoilu, the official residence of the King.

In 1948 it was determined that the Salaamathi needed replacement with lyrics to
accompany a new melody. The words were composed by a young poet and later a
chief justice, Mohamed Jameel Didi..

Jameel Didi looked around for a tune to accompany his poem. His uncle, the
chief justice Hussain Salahuddine, had just acquired a new-fangled clock that
played an excellent tune at the stroke of midday, the Scottish folk song "Auld
Lang Syne", and Jameel decided to use that tune for his poem.

Although the Salaamathi survived as the royal anthem until 1964, it did not
occur to anyone to adopt it as the national anthem. In 1972, for the first time
in history, the Maldives hosted a foreign head of state - Queen Elizabeth II of
the United Kingdom. The Maldive government of the time deemed it necessary to
compose a different tune for the anthem instead. Hastily they commissioned the
composition of a new melody. The new melody of the Maldive national anthem was
composed by a distinguished Sri Lankan maestro, Pandit Wannakuwattawaduge Don
Amaradeva. The original lyrics were used, with some changes to mark the fact
that Maldives has been a republic since 1968.

Special thanks to:Dan McGlaun for the sheet music.
