Fico Government in Slovakia Changes Arrangement of National Anthem for €47 Thousand to Resemble Russian Anthem

The Slovak government has presented an updated version of the national anthem, but the €46,500 project has sparked controversy over its cost, Barron's and Noviny.sk report.

In the new version of the Slovak anthem, the words and melody remain the same, but the arrangement, created by renowned composer and conductor Oskar Rozsa, has changed. The new anthem begins with an instrumental introduction, similar to the Russian anthem, and ends with the sound of the Slovak folk instrument fujara.

Rozsa was paid 46,500 euros for the arrangement, which drew criticism from the public and the media, as the Slovak government is simultaneously implementing austerity measures.

The anthem was first performed on 1 January, during a New Year's Eve concert by the Bratislava Philharmonic Orchestra. Slovakia's Minister of Culture from the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS), Martina Šimkovičová, shared her emotions about the event on Facebook, saying she felt ‘goosebumps on her body and soul.’

Šimkovićová presented the project in October 2023, saying that the changes were aimed at ‘increasing national pride’. 

‘Journalists criticise the cost of the anthem, but they don't care about the hundreds of millions of euros spent on Pride parades,’ the culture minister responded to the criticism.

The project has also become the subject of political controversy. The leader of the opposition party Progressive Slovakia Michal Šimečka called the changes ‘an unacceptable humiliation of the national symbol... The essence of the anthem is that it belongs to everyone,’ the politician said.

The scandal intensified after Rozsa appeared in November next to a man under investigation for anti-Semitic statements. In response to the criticism, the composer said that the new anthem was created ‘not for those who condemn him.’

The criticism of the project also comes amid the general economic situation in the country, where the authorities are forced to introduce severe austerity measures. Many consider the cost of changing the anthem to be unjustified, which increases political tensions in society.

‘The new arrangement of the national anthem has been recommended as the official anthem of the Slovak Republic in accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of the Interior. It can be performed at all official events,’ the Slovak Interior Ministry said.

They did not set a specific deadline for the introduction of the new version of the anthem, but expressed expectations that it would happen within ‘three to four months’.

The anthem of Slovakia, approved after the country's declaration of independence in 1993, is called Nad Tatrou sa blýska (‘Over the Tatras it shines’). The author Janko Matuska wrote the words in the mid-nineteenth century, and they were set to the melody of the folk song Kopala studienku (‘I dug a well’).