By Awa Cheikh Faye
Niger's bid to shake off the last vestiges of French colonialism by discarding an inherited national anthem that evoked dependence, subordination, inferiority and racism has given birth to a reimagined ode to the West African country's ethos, identity and aspirations.
The change of the national anthem was effected before last week's coup that saw the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum from power by some members of the Presidential Guard.
The new anthem that was consecrated on June 22 this year – L'Honneur de la Patrie, or Honour of the Fatherland – replaced Frenchman Maurice Albert Thiriet's La Nigérienne, containing passages that many in Niger saw as a prickly reminder of the country's erstwhile colonial rulers stamping their primacy.
Sections such as Soyons fiers et reconnaissants/de notre liberté nouvelle and évitons les vaines querelles, in particular, have continually invited the ire of Nigeriens.
Prof Boubé Namaîwa, a teacher-researcher in the philosophy department of Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, describes these passages as "irreverent, bordering on insulting". According to him, the underlying message is of "a worn-out Africa, a tired Africa, which must call on the former coloniser to give it a new lease of life".
New identity
Although the idea of adapting the national anthem to the country's socio-historical and cultural reality is widely accepted, L'Honneur de la Patrie is far from being unanimously popular. At least not yet.
The Nigerien artist Jhonel, a popular francophone slammer, opened up about it on his Facebook page recently.
"I have just heard the new national anthem. Without offending anyone, allow me to express my regrets. There are no phrases that make me want to get out of bed in the morning. There are no images that reflect the hope I want for my country. No poetry. Dull and flat," he wrote.
"You say that the first one doesn't represent the country because it was written by a colonist? Please, if you can't do better than the colonist, don't do less."
Moving forward
Nigerian MP Nana Djoubie Harouna Maty doesn't like the melody. "I don't like the rhythm," she told TRT Afrika. "I don't know how I am going to sing it. It's not exceptional. On social networks, I have seen a lot of Nigerians point this out. It's déjà vu."
Harouna Maty also highlights the perceived lack of inclusiveness in the process of writing and creating the new anthem, pointing to shortcomings that she hopes will be resolved in the future.
"The anthem is the voice a mother can have for her son. When you find yourself in certain situations, and you hear your country's anthem, you feel like you are hearing your mother's voice. Today, if there are brothers who don't feel the same way, I say to myself, 'That mother, did she speak well?'"
For Prof Namaîwa, the new anthem is in tune with the aspirations of what Niger is today.
"Through this new anthem, we must cry out Douby in anger at the past, and reappropriate the text and all the values it conveys in order to free ourselves from a disgusting tutelage. To this end, we wanted to concoct a text in our own style, a text with words that speak to us, words that are our own, words that uplift us, and words that move us," he said.
Niger amended Article 1 of the Constitution to incorporate the text of the new "Anthem of the Republic" this year, setting in motion what Prof Namaîwa calls a process of "moving forward without forgetting".
"We decided to give priority to this text because it allows us to leave behind the labyrinth of habits and inoperative nostalgia, and to ask ourselves the meaning and substance of the words of old Niger that we unfortunately consumed with a certain relish."
