"God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" is the national anthem of Ghana; it was adopted in 1957 when Ghana declared its independence from the United Kingdom.

History

thumbtime=0:43|thumb|[[Universal Newsreel about the establishment of Ghana in 1957]]

The music for the national anthem was originally composed by Philip Gbeho and sang to lyrics written by Emmanuel Pappoe-Thompson. However the words were revised by a literary committee in the Office of the then head of state, Kwame Nkrumah. Michael Kwame Gbordzoe has made claims to the current lyrics being used saying that it was written by him after the overthrow of President Nkrumah. A competition was held and Kwame Gbordzoe, who was then a student at Bishop Herman College, presented the current lyrics which were chosen to replace "Lift High The Flag Of Ghana" which had been officially adopted after independence and used as Ghana's national anthem during Nkrumah's presidency.

Lyrics

Current lyrics

The current lyrics of the "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" national anthem that has been in use since the 1970s were written by Michael Kwame Gbordzoe while a student within the framework of a national competition, and is accompanied by Ghana's national pledge.

Thus, the official current lyrics of "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" are as follows:

Messages were sent to various Ghanaian government agencies, and was also discussed on air at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), Uniiq FM programme PTGlive, on 9 March 2008.

National Pledge of Ghana

The National Pledge of Ghana is recited immediately after "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana".

References

  • Ghana: "God Bless Our Homeland Ghana" - audio of the national anthem of Ghana, with information and lyrics (archive link)
  • Ghana national anthem, instrumental version
  • Ghana national anthem, vocal version
  • "Hail the name of Ghana" - MIDI Instrumental