Curaçao

Words by: Guillermo Rosario, Mae Henriquez, Enrique Muller, Betty Doran
Music by: Frater Candidus Nowens and Errol "El Toro" Colina
Adopted: 1978

Curaçao is an island in the Caribbean, and part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Also part of the Netherlands Antilles until October, 2010, its anthem was used as the anthem for the entire Netherlands Antilles until 1964, until it was replaced first with the anthem of another island, Bonaire, then in 2000 with a unique anthem.

The anthem was first written in 1899 by a local clergyman of Dutch origin, and was put to music later (in the 1930s) by another priest, Frater Candidus. The current version of the anthem was re-written in 1978 by a four-person at the government's request before the anthem was adopted officially, seemingly because the original lyrics were too colonial in nature.

The anthem has four couplets of which only the first and last are typically sung; all four are to be sung only for important government proceedings.

Special thanks to: Henri Moen for some of this information and Pavel Zinovatny for the MIDI.

See also: Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles.