Curaçao

Words by: Guillermo Rosario, Mae Henriquez, Enrique Muller, Betty Doran
Music by: Frater Candidus Nowens and Errol "El Toro" Colina
Adopted: unknown

Curaçao is an island in the Netherlands Antilles, which is itself part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Each island in the Netherlands Antilles, as well as the territory itself, has local anthems that are in use on the respective islands. Until 1964 the Curaçao anthem was used as the anthem of the entire Netherlands Antilles, until it was replaced first with the anthem of another island, Bonaire, then in 2000 with a unique anthem.

The anthem was first written in 1899 by a local clergyman of Dutch origin, and was put to music later (in the 1930s) by another priest, Frater Candidus. The current version of the anthem was re-written in 1978 by a four-person at the government's request, seemingly because the original lyrics were too colonial in nature.

Special thanks to: Henri Moen for some of this information and Pavel Zinovatny for the MIDI.

See also: Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles.