Every country’s most-played song is its national anthem, yet most people know almost nothing about where theirs came from. African national anthems hide some remarkable stories: one was written in blood on a prison wall, one began as a lullaby, one had no words until its football team reached a World Cup and one was dropped and then brought back after more than four decades.
Here are ten things you probably did not know about African national anthems.
1. One hymn became the anthem of five countries
In 1897 Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa teacher at a Methodist mission school near Johannesburg, wrote a hymn called “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika”, “Lord Bless Africa”. It spread far beyond his church to become a pan-African liberation song.
After independence, versions of it were adopted as the national anthems of Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia, and later South Africa. Few songs anywhere have served so many countries.
2. Tanzania and Zambia still share the same tune
Zimbabwe and Namibia have since moved on to new anthems with their own melodies. Tanzania and Zambia have not. Their anthems, “Mungu ibariki Afrika” and “Stand and Sing of Zambia, Proud and Free”, both still use Sontonga’s melody. At a Tanzania against Zambia football match, both sets of fans would know the tune.
3. South Africa’s anthem uses five languages
When apartheid ended, Nelson Mandela decreed in 1994 that “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” would be a joint anthem with “Die Stem”, the old apartheid-era anthem. In 1997 the two were merged into one song with new English lyrics.
It uses the five most widely spoken of South Africa’s twelve official languages: Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English, and everyone sings all five whatever their home language.
4. Kenya’s anthem started as a lullaby
“Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu” (“O God of all creation”) was written by the Kenyan Anthem Commission in 1963, making it one of the first national anthems to be specially commissioned. Its tune is based on a traditional song sung by Pokomo mothers to their children. A nation’s anthem, built on a lullaby.
5. Algeria’s anthem was written in blood
Poet Moufdi Zakaria was jailed and tortured several times during the struggle against French rule. In April 1955, held in Barberousse Prison without paper or pen, he is said to have written the words of “Kassaman” (“We swear”) in his own blood on the wall of his cell.
The music was composed by the Egyptian composer Mohamed Fawzi after two earlier attempts were rejected, and the anthem was adopted at independence in 1962.
6. Morocco’s anthem had no words until the World Cup
Morocco’s Cherifian Anthem was composed by Léo Morgan, a French officer and head of music for the Moroccan Royal Guard, during the French protectorate, probably in 1952. For years it was played without lyrics.
Then Morocco qualified for its first World Cup, in 1970. The idea of adding words came up, and poet Ali Squalli Houssaini wrote them. Football gave Morocco the words to its anthem.
7. Nigeria brought back its old anthem in 2024
“Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was Nigeria’s anthem from independence on 1 October 1960. Its lyrics were written by Lillian Jean Williams, a British woman working in Lagos, who gave her prize money to the Nigerian Red Cross. The music was credited to “Frances Benda”, which in 2024 journalist Tolu Ogunlesi identified as the pen name of a music teacher, Mrs Charles Kernot.
The military government replaced it with “Arise, O Compatriots” in 1978. On 29 May 2024, after a bill passed the National Assembly, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” became the anthem again, 46 years after it was dropped.
8. Ghana’s current words were written by a student
The music of “God Bless Our Homeland Ghana” was composed by Philip Gbeho, the Ghanaian composer and music teacher, and the anthem was adopted at independence in 1957. Under Kwame Nkrumah the words were different, and the song was known as “Lift High the Flag of Ghana”.
After Nkrumah was overthrown, a national competition chose new lyrics. The winner, Michael Kwame Gbordzoe, was a student at Bishop Herman College in the Volta Region. His words are the ones Ghanaians have sung since the 1970s.
9. Egypt’s anthem comes from a famous speech
“Bilady, Bilady, Bilady” (“My homeland, my homeland, my homeland”) was composed by the celebrated Egyptian composer Sayed Darwish, with words by Mohamed Younis El-Qadi. Its opening is taken from a famous 1907 speech by nationalist leader Mustafa Kamel. It became Egypt’s anthem in 1979. For more Egyptian music history, see Umm Kulthum.
10. Senegal’s anthem tells you to pluck your koras
Senegal’s anthem, written by its first president, the poet Léopold Sédar Senghor, opens with a musical instruction: “Pincez tous vos koras, frappez les balafons”, “Pluck all your koras, strike the balafons”. Few anthems name musical instruments at all. Senegal’s names two, both from the Mande tradition. Read our guide to African instruments.
What African national anthems tell us
Put together, these stories trace the continent’s history: mission hymns, colonial bandmasters, independence competitions, liberation struggles and modern parliaments changing their minds. Next time you stand for yours, it is worth knowing who wrote it, and what they went through.
