2023-06-13 14:02:47
AA / Alger / Aksil Ouali
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has issued a new presidential decree determining the circumstances and conditions for the full or partial interpretation of the national anthem as well as the full and reduced musical scores performed during official ceremonies.
This is text n° 23-195 of May 21, 2023, published in the official journal N°6 which, according to the document, intervenes “on a report by the Minister of National Defense”.
Intervening to modify and complete the 1986 decree, the new text defines more precisely when the national anthem can be performed in its full or reduced version.
While the 1986 decree provided that “the national anthem is performed, song and music, according to the related ceremonial, when…”, the one that has just been published specifies that “the national anthem is performed, song and music , in its five (5) verses, according to the appropriate ceremonial, when…”.
The third verse of the hymn composed in prison, during the war of national liberation, by the Algerian poet Moufdi Zakaria, evokes colonial France by name, asking him to prepare to receive the response of the Algerians.
The complete version of “Kassaman” will be performed, according to the new text, in these five verses, during “official commemorations in the presence of the President of the Republic”, whereas in the old decree, it was planned only during “congresses of the party (FLN, at the time the only party) and the investiture of the President of the Republic”.
The execution of the reduced score (a single verse in music) is planned “during the solemn communication of the President of the Republic to the Nation, official ceremonies in the presence of the President of the Republic, official visits of the leaders of foreign states and military ceremonials organized within the Ministry of National Defence”.
— An old controversy
Thus, the new decree did not restore the third verse of this hymn which quotes France by name: “O France! The time for palaver is over… We have closed it as one closes a book. O France! Here comes the day when you must be accountable… Prepare yourself! Here is our answer…”. This couplet has not been deleted, since it still appears in school textbooks. He was notably executed during the inauguration ceremony of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on December 19, 2019.
However, the controversy surrounding its removal is several years old. In the 1980s, the idea of removing this couplet was debated. A bill was even presented to the Assembly to withdraw it, affirming that the Algerian anthem is the only one in the world to refer to a foreign country. The text was rejected by the deputies during its presentation before the commission of the APN in charge of its examination at the time.
Despite this rejection, the couplet disappeared from textbooks for many years. It took until the late 1990s and early 2000s to see it reinstated in school books.
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