Yemeni national song at the mercy of political events

The anniversary of the September 26, 1962 revolution against the Imamate rule in northern Yemen, and the October 14, 1963 revolution against British colonialism in southern Yemen, brings back to the forefront, every year, the Yemeni national song that witnessed stages of prosperity and then decline, due to the influence of the political and cultural circumstances that the country went through.

The history of the national song in Yemen dates back to the fifties of the last century, as many critics consider the song "In the Name of This Soil" by the artist Hassan Attaa to be the first of this type, and it was in harmony with the wave of Arab liberation. Although South Yemen was a pioneer in national songs, the north quickly joined this artistic movement after the September 1962 revolution.

During the October 14 Revolution, several songs emerged, such as “Allah Allah Ya October” by Youssef Ahmed Salem, “Salam Alf La Dawla Wa La Al Askar” by Iskandar Thabet, and “Huna Radfan” by Mohammed Murshid Naji. Southern songs were distinguished by their elaborate musical arrangement, which contributed to their spread beyond Yemen’s borders, driven by Aden’s openness to the outside world and the poets’ commitment to expressing the spirit of liberation. The song “Bar’a Ya Isti’mar” by Mohammed Mohsen Atroush also gained wide popularity in the Arab world after it was recorded in Cairo and broadcast on Sawt Al Arab radio, which contributed to spreading enthusiasm among the revolutionaries in Aden.

In the north, the appearance of patriotic songs was delayed until after the September Revolution, as Arab artists compensated for this absence, and many stars such as Abdel Halim Hafez, Najat Sallam, and others sang for the northern revolution, while songs by Yemeni artists later spread, such as “Ya Tayr Ya Ramadi” by Muhammad Murshid Naji.

From the late sixties to the eighties, the artist Ayoub Tarish played a major role in reviving the national song in the north, especially through his collaboration with the poet Abdullah Abdul Wahab Noman "Al Fadoul", where they presented immortal works such as the national anthem "Repeat, O World, My Anthem". Likewise, songs in the narrative style spread in the south and the north such as "Commander of the British Army" which depicted scenes of the struggle against colonialism.

After Yemeni unification in 1990, patriotic songs such as “My Mother Yemen” by Abu Bakr Salem and “With All My Heart I Love You” by Ahmed bin Ahmed Qassim appeared. However, these songs faded after the 1994 summer war due to the complexities of the political scene.

Musician Jaber Ali Ahmed told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the national song in Yemen has distinctive artistic and moral connotations, as it was a symbol of the struggle against the foreign colonizer, but with the presence of a national authority, the national song sometimes became a tool for political propaganda. He pointed out that the national songs during the liberation phase were the subject of national consensus, while after that they became an expression of different social interests.

Poet Fathi Abu Al-Nasr explained that national songs in Yemen were affected by the country's political transformations, as they played a role in strengthening national identity and resisting colonialism. However, internal conflicts, especially after the Houthi coup in 2014, weakened traditional national songs and were replaced by "Zamel" that the militias use in their war propaganda, which led to the decline of the national song in Yemen.

New Arab