This week’s Google Doodle is about Bruddah Iz, Israel Kamakawiwoʻole,
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| Bruddah IZ, from the Google Doodle in his honor |
…showing his life in a quick, beautiful video with his most famous song (Somewhere Over the Rainbow) playing in the background.
I admit to being a longtime ukulele player myself, so IZ has a special place in my heart for all his glorious music during his too brief lifetime.
I’ve been to Hawai’i many times–that’s where I first heard his music, and where I picked up the ukulele and my kihoalu guitar playing habit.
But as I watched the Bruddah Iz video, I started thinking about the state song of Hawai’i, and about state and national anthems in general.
You know how my mind works by now… this led to a bit of SearchResearch into the songs that are associated with different states and nations.
We know that The Star-Spangled Banner is the US national anthem. You probably know about the anthems O Canada and God Save the Queen, but what else do you know?
Here are a few short SRS Challenges. These aren’t hard, but will hopefully get you thinking about the power of song as a representation of identity (and we’ll talk about SearchResearch tactics next week when I answer these Challenges).
1. Do all 50 US states have a state anthem? If not, which ones don’t? And why? (If you’re not in the US, what states in your country have anthems? Do the states of Mexico or Canada all have similar songs?)
2. As you know, such songs are usually in the local language. France has La Marseillaise in French, Germany has Deutschlandlied, etc. Are there any US state anthems that are NOT in English?
3. Speaking of languages in anthems, are there any anthems that have more than one language in them? Where? Why?
4. Which country has the oldest national anthem?
5. While I couldn’t find a video of Bruddah Iz singing the Hawaiian state song, it’s pretty easy to find him singing the one song that closes nearly every concert in Hawai’i. What song is that? (Can you find a recording of IZ singing it?)
Have fun with these. They’re pretty straight-forward, but as with many Research Questions, there are hidden depths that I think you’ll enjoy exploring.
Let us know what you find, and HOW you found it!
Aloha.
And Search On! (E imi mau.)
