For those of you who don’t know what the Marseillaise is, it is France’s national anthem and one of the most famous anthems, if not the most famous anthem in the world. The Borinqueña is Puerto Rico’s national anthem and it has two versions. The version that can be seen in the video above is the original version written by Lolita Rodriguez de Tio; the other version, which is the most famous one, was a transcription done when Carlos Romero Barcelo was governor of Puerto Rico and it was done in order to Americanize, meaning turn it into a march, the anthem and take away its sense of patriotism.
I want to compare the original version of the Borinqueña to the Marseillaise because these two are very patriotic but one was written as a march, the Marseillaise, and the other one, the Borinqueña, its original version was written with a dance form, representation of the “Danza Puertorriqueña”, the music movement of the time when it was written. As mentioned before, one of the reasons they changed the Borinqueña was to make it a march.The Marseillaise, which is characterized for being very revolutionary, in fact Napoleon once said that using that anthem would save France soldiers, was once used throughout Europe as a model to write other anthems. Furthermore, since it was written close to the French Revolution, it was written in the form of a march, given that they were fighting for democracy. On the other, Puerto Rico’s anthem was written in sort of a mellow way, even though it has the exact same spirit as the Marseillaise. It calls for revolution but still maintains a sense of calmness and peacefulness, which has characterized Puerto Ricans throughout history; we are a docile country.
National anthems, almost everyone in the world, represent a moment of victory for the country. The Marseillaise and the Star Spangled Banner, national anthem of the U.S.A., represent just that. However the Borinqueña wasn’t written in that way. The people who wrote it wanted for Puerto Ricans to come to their senses; it was some sort of a calling for revolution but not as intense as the Marseillaise. It also used the “Danza Puertorriqueña” as a basis, which if this would be the one used now a days would characterize Puerto Ricans of having a national anthem not written in form of a march. However, it seems that its just not write to have a national anthem different from the rest.
