Sometimes my muse encourages me to work away at an idea that has entered my head just fleetingly as the combination of two easily dismissed thoughts. Recently, two such thoughts were “How easy is it to create culture, like a song, in Ido?” and “What would Europe’s national anthem be, if it was a single nation?” These both have answers on their own, since music has been written with Ido lyrics (even annoyingly catchy songs), and the Europe Union does have an anthem, that being the theme from the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. In English the theme is known as “Ode to Joy”, and Beethoven’s tune originally had German lyrics to it, but for the purposes of the European Union, there are no words with official status. The fact that the EU is unable to do something as common as having words to its anthem should be a sign of how much “custom sternly divides” it, and the need for a common language. I am very impressed with an effort to express the modern ideals of Europe using the ancient language of Latin, but I still feel that Ido has the sort of modern flexibility and ease of use that make it a better candidate for a means of linguistically uniting us. That is why I have been working passionately, and enjoyably on this task. I unfortunately am not the greatest student of Ido, so I may have to amend this text as I get better, but here it is as it stands currently:
“Ad Joyo”
O amiki, ne ici toni!
Vice, kantez-ni mem plu gaye
ed mem plu joyoze.
Joyo! Joyo!
Joyo bela ciel-flamo,
Filio de eterno,
Ni adiras fier-ebria,
Vua santa hem-lando.
Vua povo reunionas
Qua kustumo dividas,
Omna personi fratigos
Irgaloke vu restas.
Irgu sucese esabis
Amiko de amiko;
Irgu kareto ganabis,
Mixez vua joyego!
Ya, mem irgu revendikas
Una anmo sur tero!
Ed irgu nultempe havas,
Celas di ica grupo.
Omna enti drinkas joyo
Di taso de naturo;
Omna bono, omna malo
Sequas lua roz-voyo.
Donas ad ni kisi, vino,
Amiko mem til morto;
Grantis ad vermi: plezuro,
Ad kulpanti: nun graco.
Joye kam la suni flugas
Tra la ciela skiso,
Kurez, frati, vua kuro,
Gaye kam heroo vinkas.
Embraceskez singla homo!
Una kiso por omno!
Frati, super la stel-vulto
Oportas esar amo.
Aceptas ol, singla homo?
Sentas vu la kreito?
Serchez super la stel-vulto!
Super steli, verajo.
Embraceskez singla homo!
Una kiso por omno!
Frati, super la stel-vulto
Oportas esar amo.
Embraceskez,
Una kiso por omno!
Joyo bela ciel-flamo,
Filio de eterno,
Joyo bela ciel-flamo
This was based on the words as they appear in the Wikipedia article, and using the marvellous online English to Ido dictionary, and listening to a recording of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan to be sure that my words did still scan. In my next post, I hope to provide a translation of the lyrics “back” into English (although I did try to stay faithful to the original German wherever I felt it differed from the English and there was room in the Ido to capture the German meaning).
How much does it cost to have an orchestra and choir produce a short work and relinquish the copyright on it?
