Sierra Leone National Anthem

High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free

Written 1961

Adopted 1961

Lyrics Clifford Nelson Fyle

Music John Joseph Akar

🕊 Freedom ✝ God / Faith 🤝 Unity ❤ Love of homeland 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage | Majestic

Key Facts

1. Sierra Leone comes from the Portuguese Serra Leoa, 'Lion Mountains', the name given to the mountains of what is now the Freetown peninsula. It is traditionally credited to the explorer Pedro de Sintra in 1462, but historians dispute this, and an early account of his voyage explains the name not by the mountains' shape but by the lion-like roar of thunder around the summit
2. John Joseph Akar, who composed the music, later served as Sierra Leone's ambassador to the United States
3. Like neighboring Liberia, Sierra Leone was settled by freed slaves: about 400 arrived from Britain in 1787, and in 1792 about 1,200 Black Loyalists from Nova Scotia, former slaves who had sided with Britain in the American Revolution, founded Freetown

Sierra Leone - High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free

Sierra Leone National Anthem Lyrics

High We Exalt Thee, Realm of the Free Great is the love we have for thee; Firmly united ever we stand, Singing thy praise, O native land. We raise up our hearts and our voices on high, The hills and the valleys re-echo our cry; Blessing and peace be ever thine own, Land that we love, our Sierra Leone. One with a faith that wisdom inspires, One with a zeal that never tires; Ever we seek to honour thy name, Ours is the labour, thine the fame. We pray that no harm on thy children may fall, That blessing and peace may descend on us all; So may we serve thee ever alone, Land that we love, our Sierra Leone. Knowledge and truth our forefathers spread, Mighty the nations whom they led; Mighty they made thee, so too may we Show forth the good that is ever in thee. We pledge our devotion, our strength and our might, Thy cause to defend and to stand for thy right; All that we have be ever thine own, Land that we love, our Sierra Leone.

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

Analysis

Editorial

Adopted at independence from Britain in 1961, with words by Clifford Nelson Fyle and music by John Joseph Akar, a Sierra Leonean entertainer, writer and diplomat who in 1963 founded the National Dance Troupe to encourage pride in the country's cultural heritage. Each of the anthem's three verses ends with the line 'Land that we love, our Sierra Leone'.