All anthems

Central African Republic

La Renaissance

The Renaissance

Written 1959
Adopted 1960
Lyrics Barthélémy Boganda (posthumous; died 29 March 1959)
Music Herbert Pepper
🗽 Independence 🤝 Unity 🕊 Freedom 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage 💪 Resilience | Hopeful

Key Facts

  • 1. Barthélémy Boganda, who wrote the lyrics, died in a plane crash on 29 March 1959. The cause was never settled and the anthem was adopted more than a year after his death.
  • 2. Composer Herbert Pepper wrote two African national anthems in the same period: La Renaissance for the Central African Republic and Le Lion rouge (Pincez tous vos koras, frappez les balafons) for Senegal.
  • 3. The republic adopted La Renaissance on 25 May 1960, several months before formal independence from France on 13 August 1960.
  • 4. The same anthem stayed in use through the Central African Empire (1976 to 1979), when Jean-Bédel Bokassa crowned himself emperor, and returned with the restored republic.
Central African Republic - La Renaissance

Lyrics

Ô Centrafrique, ô berceau des Bantous ! Reprends ton droit au respect, à la vie ! Longtemps soumis, longtemps brimé par tous, Mais de ce jour brisant la tyrannie. Dans le travail, l'ordre et la dignité, Tu reconquiers ton droit, ton unité, Et pour franchir cette étape nouvelle, De nos ancêtres la voix nous appelle. [Refrain] Au travail dans l'ordre et la dignité, Dans le respect du droit dans l'unité, Brisant la misère et la tyrannie, Brandissant l'étendard de la Patrie.

Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals

Analysis

Editorial

Barthélémy Boganda, the founding father of the Central African Republic, wrote the words to La Renaissance during the brief autonomous period that followed self-government in 1958. He never saw them set to music. On 29 March 1959 his plane went down on the way back to Bangui, and the country he had built lost its leader more than a year before independence. The republic adopted his text on 25 May 1960, weeks before the formal break with France on 13 August. The melody comes from French composer Herbert Pepper, who scored the anthem of Senegal in the same season. The song speaks for the Bantu cradle, calls work and dignity the only road out of subjugation, and reads as a posthumous instruction from a man whose name still anchors the state.

Learn More

National anthem on Wikipedia Official state symbols

Sources & References

  1. Ses symboles . Ambassade de la République centrafricaine à Paris
  2. Abel Goumba. Les mémoires & les réflexions politiques du résistant anti-colonial, démocrate et militant panafricaniste, Abel Goumba: De la loi-cadre à la mort de Barthélemy Boganda . Ccinia communication (2007)
  3. Lavinia Dobler. National Holidays Around the World . Fleet Press Corporation (1968)

Source & Review

Source status
Embassy or ministry verified
Translation
Nationalia working translation
Rights status
Third-party rights may apply
Last reviewed
Reviewed by
ai-claude
Report a correction
rights@nationalia.org

Compare with…

Central African Republic vs Republic of the Congo Central African Republic vs Cameroon Central African Republic vs Chad
Compare different anthems

Related anthems

Republic of the Congo shared themes same region similar era Chad shared themes same mood same region Cameroon shared themes same region