"Our Nation's Dawning" - Performed by students of Felicity Hindu School, Trinidad.
Uploaded by alisyours
OUR NATION'S DAWNING
G. Carlton Sampson
Come, come away, hail to the day
This is our land's great morning
Birds in the trees waft to the breeze
Songs of our nation's dawning.
Hummingbird bright, lend your delight,
Ibis your scarlet feathers;
Kiskadee call, summon them all
This is a day of wonders!
Chorus:
O land of fairest beauty
We pledge our lives to duty
And vow this day, and vow this day
And vow this day to serve thee.
Flambouyant gay, make glad the day
Colourful blooms resplendent
Hibiscus hedge witness our pledge
To honour this day transcendent.
Fireflies bright, shine through the night:
Illumine our thanksgiving
Of this great day each heart can say
This is our Nation's Dawning!
Chorus:
O land of fairest beauty
We pledge our lives to duty
And vow this day, and vow this day
And vow this day to serve thee.
Three sister hills, list to the trills
Echoing to high heaven
And from the sea, the blue Caribee
Breezes will join the revel.
Palm trees on high reach to the sky
While bells aloft are pealing
Man, bird and beast, earth, sea and sky
Raise chants of joy excelling.
Chorus:
O land of fairest beauty
We pledge our lives to duty
And vow this day, and vow this day
And vow this day to serve thee.
Source: My land: A Social studies review for primary and secondary school students and teachers/Gloria Pollard and Elton Nelson, Charran Educational Publishers, 1982, p.40.
Uploaded by Stephen Doobal
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
9 comments:
That's my grandfather. My grandfather wrote this song. Thanks for posting it.
Dear Trini Peach,
Thanks for your comment. I have always loved this song ever since we were taught it in primary school. I have always wondered if other children felt the same way about it. We probably think that the songs that children can best enjoy are songs like "This Old Man" and "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and I don't know if we realise that children do have the capacity to understand and enjoy singing songs that are on the more "mature" themes of patriotism, love, honour, respect, gratitude, pride.
Everything about this song was meant to uplift and for me it did just that, from the first rallying "Come, come away! to the return again and again to the pledge of the chorus, "O Land of Fairest Beauty". I don't know if this is the way that my teacher taught us the song, but I remember always wanting to draw out that 'O" and put great and loving emphasis on "land of fairest beauty".
Just cannot put into words my gratitude to your grandfather. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to thank you on his behalf. Pure genius! Pure love!
Blessings,
Guanaguanare
Hi,
My daughter has a 4-week project to work on and the patriotic songs of T&T is the topic.
I am glad I came across this :). Can you say when this song was written as I can't seem to find any details on it or most of the Patriotic songs for that matter.
Thanks in advance,
Rossi :)
Thanks for visiting, Rossi, and I am glad that you found some of what you needed here. I don't have the date of composition for this song or any of the others where that information is absent. I am thinking that you should be able to find this information at either The Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism and/or The West Indiana & Special Collections at the Main Library of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine. I have provided the contact details below:
West Indiana & Special Collections
Divisional Librarian - Ms. Kathleen Helenese-Paul 662-2002 Ext. 83506, 83361
Divisional email for enquiries: wimail@sta.uwi.edu
The Ministry of The Arts and Multiculturalism
JOBCO Building
51-55 Frederick Street
Port of Spain
Trinidad and Tobago
Phone Contacts:
Culture Division
Phone: (868) 625-8519, (868) 625-6962, (868) 627-1061, (868) 627-4991
Fax: (868) 625-8519, (868) 627-4991
Email:
culturedivision.tt@gmail.com
There is also The Remember When Institute within the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism. Their e-mail is:
rememberwheninstitute@gmail.com
I wish you success.
Blessings
hi i am a student i just learnt this song and i have to sing it to the new president of trinidad and tobago i would love to thank you for posting this as i really love this song and thanks for all the opportunities
Kielle, you are very, very welcome. This song is a celebration of our beautiful country and our love for it. I hope that your tribute to the new President will be captured on video and uploaded to YouTube. I will be my great pleasure to view it and also to share it by embedding it on this page.
Kielle, sing it from your heart and with all the love that went into its composition and I know that your offering will be beautiful.
Blessings,
Guanaguanare
How many national songs are there? i know about this one and God bless our nation but are there any more?
Dear Christopher,
Thanks for visiting and for asking this really interesting question. As far as I know, the official national song is the National Anthem of Trinidad and Tobago. For the other two that you have mentioned to be called national songs, they would have had to be declared/accepted as such by the government, OR have attained that status by virtue of their popularity and the frequency with which they are sung as declarations of love/devotion/patriotism. It is my opinion that those two songs are national songs and I assume that most Trinbagonians are still taught at the Primary level of their schooling to sing them as was my experience when I was a child.
So, in addition to the "National Anthem", "God Bless Our Nation" and "Our Nation's Dawning" may also be national songs.
Quite a few of the older songs which were inspired by our gaining our Independence could have also been candidates if they were more popular. These included songs like "Our Land of Sun and Seas",
"This is My Flag" and "Our Model Nation".
However, if you could class a song as being a national song based on popularity alone and not by its having been commissioned or promoted or recognised officially by the state, would you agree that "Portrait of a Nation" is the unofficial national song?
This blog tries to collect all the other songs about our nation that can be found on the Internet. They are not what you would call official national songs, but they comment on our nation, or some aspect of our nation.
What are your ideas? Perhaps there is an official list of national songs somewhere which I have not yet seen. If you have, I would be very interested in the songs that are included.
Thanks again for contacting me.
Blessings
Guanaguanare
My apologies, Robin,
I am only seeing your message today, September 23. You may have noticed that I have not been posting recently and as a result I tend to check comments very infrequently. I hope that all went well.
Blessings,
Guanaguanare
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