La Borinqueña is the official anthem of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

. After Puerto Rico became the "The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in 1952, the first elected governor, Luis Muñoz Marín

Luis Muñoz Marín

Don José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico," he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader...

, signed law #2 of July 24, 1952 that stated that the musical composition known as "La Borinqueña" was to become the official anthem of Puerto Rico. The words that go with the composition were approved by governor Carlos Romero Barceló

Carlos Romero Barceló

Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló is a Puerto Rican politician who served as the fifth Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party and also Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico from 1993 to 2001, making him one of the more successful...

 on July 27th, 1977, law #123. The title refers to the aboriginal Taíno

Taíno people

The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...

 name for the island of Puerto Rico, Borinkén or Borinquén

History

The music was originally credited to Félix Astol Artés

Félix Astol Artés

Felix Astol Artés was born in the Catalunia province of Spain in August 1, 1811 but moved to Puerto Rico, where like many other catalonians made their homes, especially in Ponce.. He occupies a special place in the hearts of Puerto Ricans as the composer of their national anthem: La Borinqueña in...

 in 1867 as an habanera danza

Danza

Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence dances, performed to a pattern, usually of squares, to...

, with romantic lyrics, but there is some evidence that Francisco Ramírez, a native of San Germán

San Germán, Puerto Rico

San Germán is a municipality located in the southwestern region of Puerto Rico, south of Mayagüez and Maricao; north of Lajas; east of Hormigueros and Cabo Rojo; and west of Sabana Grande. San Germán is spread over 18 wards and San Germán Pueblo...

, wrote the music
in 1860, and named it "La Almojábana". In 1868, Lola Rodríguez de Tió

Lola Rodríguez de Tio

Lola Rodríguez de TióThis name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name " Rodríguez" and the second or matrimonial family name is "Tió"., , was the first Puerto Rican born poetess to establish herself a reputation as a great poet throughout all of Latin America...

 wrote a poem in support of the Puerto Rican revolution, which was set to the Ramirez/Astol Artés music. In fear of investigation by the Spanish insular government, Ramirez, asked Astól to claim authorship of the music since he was a native of Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 and would therefore raise no suspicion.

After the cession of the island to the United States, the popular revolutionary lyrics of Lola Rodríguez de Tió

Lola Rodríguez de Tio

Lola Rodríguez de TióThis name uses Spanish marriage naming customs; the first is the maiden family name " Rodríguez" and the second or matrimonial family name is "Tió"., , was the first Puerto Rican born poetess to establish herself a reputation as a great poet throughout all of Latin America...

 were deemed too subversive for official adoption; therefore, a non-confrontational set of lyrics were written in 1903 by Asturias

Asturias

The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...

-born Manuel Fernández Juncos

Manuel Fernández Juncos

Manuel Fernández Juncos was a Spanish journalist, poet, author and humanitarian who wrote the official lyrics to La Borinqueña, Puerto Rico's official anthem.-Early years:...

. The tune was officially adopted as the Commonwealth's anthem in 1952 by governor Luis Muñoz Marín, and the words were officially adopted in 1977 by governor Carlos Romero Barceló.

The official version is played as a slow march, without the original tune's initial paseo. Per the request of the new government, Ramón Collado rearranged the music in 1952 into a more military tune. Luis Miranda, the musical director of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment Band, adapted the tune to be played as a march in 1922. The 1977 law that adopted the words as an anthem merely stated that the anthem be played as a march, the tempo vaguely described as being in a "martial manner", but established no official arrangement for the music. An official revision made in 2003 leaves the tune as a march.

Both versions are given below. The Fernández Juncos version is the most familiar version; it is, for example, sung spontaneously to celebrate Puerto Rican successes in athletic events. the "revolutionary" version is associated with the Puerto Rican Independence movement (see Politics of Puerto Rico

Politics of Puerto Rico

The politics of Puerto Rico take place in the framework of a republican democratic form of government that is under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States of America as an organized unincorporated territory....

) and was sung at the Vieques Navy protests.

Official Anthem of Puerto Rico

(words by Manuel Fernández Juncos

Manuel Fernández Juncos

Manuel Fernández Juncos was a Spanish journalist, poet, author and humanitarian who wrote the official lyrics to La Borinqueña, Puerto Rico's official anthem.-Early years:...

, 1903)

La tierra de Borinquen donde he nacido yo es un jardín florido de mágico primor. Un cielo siempre nítido le sirve de dosel y dan arrullos plácidos las olas a sus pies. Cuando a sus playas llegó Colón exclamó lleno de admiración: "Oh!, oh!, oh!, ésta es la linda tierra que busco yo." Es Borinquen la hija, la hija del mar y el sol, del mar y el sol, del mar y el sol, del mar y el sol, del mar y el sol.

The land of Borinquen where I have been born is a flowery garden of magical beauty. A constantly clear sky serves as its canopy and placid lullabies are sung by the waves at its feet. When at her beaches Columbus arrived full of awe he exclaimed, "Oh!, oh!, oh!, this is the lovely land that I seek." Borinquen is the daughter, the daughter of the sea and the sun. Of the sea and the sun, of the sea and the sun, of the sea and the sun, of the sea and the sun.

Original 1868 revolutionary version by Lola Rodríguez de Tió

¡Despierta, borinqueño que han dado la señal! ¡Despierta de ese sueño que es hora de luchar! A ese llamar patriótico ¿no arde tu corazón? ¡Ven! Nos será simpático el ruido del cañón. Mira, ya el cubano libre será; le dará el machete su libertad... le dará el machete su libertad. Ya el tambor guerrero dice en su son, que es la manigua el sitio, el sitio de la reunión, de la reunión... de la reunión. El Grito de Lares se ha de repetir, y entonces sabremos vencer o morir. Bellísima Borinquén, a Cuba hay que seguir; tú tienes bravos hijos que quieren combatir. ya por más tiempo impávido no podemos estar, ya no queremos, tímidos dejarnos subyugar. Nosotros queremos ser libre ya, y nuestro machete afilado está. y nuestro machete afilado está. ¿Por qué, entonces, nosotros hemos de estar, tan dormidos y sordos y sordos a esa señal? a esa señal, a esa señal? No hay que temer, riqueños al ruido del cañón, que salvar a la patria es deber del corazón! ya no queremos déspotas, caiga el tirano ya, las mujeres indómitas también sabrán luchar. Nosotros queremos la libertad, y nuestros machetes nos la darán... y nuestro machete nos la dará... Vámonos, borinqueños, vámonos ya, que nos espera ansiosa, ansiosa la libertad. ¡La libertad, la libertad!

Arise, boricua! The call to arms has sounded! Awake from the slumber, it is time to fight! Doesn't this patriotic call set your heart alight? Come! We are in tune with the roar of the cannon. Come, the Cuban will soon be free; the machete will give him his liberty, the machete will give him his liberty. Now the war drum says with its sound, that the countryside is the place of the meeting. The Cry of Lares Grito de Lares El Grito de Lares —also referred as the Lares uprising, the Lares revolt, Lares rebellion or even Lares Revolution—was the first major revolt against Spanish rule and call for independence in Puerto Rico... must be repeated, and then we will know: victory or death. Beautiful Borinquén must follow Cuba; you have brave sons who wish to fight. Now, no longer can we be unmoved; now we do not want timidly to let them subjugate us. We want to be free now, and our machete has been sharpened. Why then have we been so sleepy and deaf to the call? There is no need to fear, Ricans, the roar of the cannon; saving the nation is the duty of the heart. We no longer want despots, tyranny shall fall now; the unconquerable women also will know how to fight. We want liberty, and our machetes will give it to us. Come, Boricuas, come now, since freedom awaits us anxiously, freedom, freedom! We want Freedom, And our machetes Give us ... And our machete We will give ... Come on, Borinquen, Let's go, We wait anxiously, Anxious freedom. Freedom, freedom!

External links

• MP3 format of La Borinqueña in vocal and instrumental both.