Egypt
"سلام أفندينا" "Salam Affandina" (Long Life to Affandina)
"يسسالام الجمهوري المصري" "Es Salaam el gamhoury el masry" (Egyptian Republican Anthem)

Music by: Giuseppe Pugioli
In use to: 1960

While widely thought to have been composed by Guiseppe Verdi, the anthem first used by the Khedive of Egypt was composed by an Italian, Giuseppe Pugioli. According to the March, 1953 edition of the Journal of Egyptian History, Pugioli (who came to Egypt late in 1871) composed the tune as a way for the soldiers to mark time in step. One day, the Khedieve Ismail Pasha stopped by the barracks when the soldiers were practicing their marching to the beat of Pugioli's tune. The Khedive was immediately interested in the tune and asked to have it arranged for a brass band to play. It was then decided to make it the Khedivial Anthem.

After the monarchy was deposed in 1952, it was still used as the national anthem, only the title was changed to reflect the country's new status as a republic. The anthem was used as part of the anthem of the United Arab Republic (a federation entered into with Syria.

Despite the Italian nationality of the composer, the anthem is very typical of others used in the area at the time, a classic example of the "Arab fanfare" style of anthem.

Special thanks to: Peter van der Meulen for some of this information.

See also: Egypt (1960-1979), Egypt.