Kosovo National Anthem
Evropa
Europe
Key Facts
- 1. Like the anthems of Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina and San Marino, Kosovo's anthem has no official lyrics.
- 2. The competition, announced on 12 March 2008 and open to everyone, asked for a piece between 30 seconds and one minute long that resembled no country's, party's or movement's anthem and implied loyalty to no ethnic community. MPs voted on a shortlist of three, and Mengjiqi's entry won the 10,000-euro prize.
- 3. Mengjiqi's entry was submitted with Albanian verses, which the selection committee removed. In 2018 he said that official lyrics would be premature while, in his words, state-building was still an ongoing process.
- 4. Mengjiqi has described the anthem as having 'a human character', with no military elements.
Kosovo National Anthem Lyrics
Instrumental anthem, no lyrics
"Europe" has no official words. It was composed by Mendi Mengjiqi and adopted by the Assembly of Kosovo on 11 June 2008, by 72 votes to 15 with 5 abstentions, a few months after the declaration of independence.
Wordlessness was the requirement, not an oversight. The brief called for a piece that made no reference to any particular ethnic group, so that the anthem could belong to all of Kosovo's communities rather than to one of them.
Analysis
EditorialAdopted by the Assembly of Kosovo on 11 June 2008, a few months after the declaration of independence of 17 February 2008. The anthem is instrumental only, chosen deliberately to avoid favoring any particular ethnic group in Kosovo's multiethnic population. Composed by Mendi Mengjiqi, it was selected through a public competition.
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Source & Review
- Source status
- Wikipedia source
- Translation
- AI-assisted working translation
- Rights status
- Third-party rights may apply
- Last reviewed
- Editorial review
- Pending
- Editorial owner
- Nationalia
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