Kab-sez Schialnach Brachtrauron
Kab-sez Schialnach Brachtrauron has only been Gruenberg's national anthem since The 660th Year. However, it is effectively a Rukialkotta version of an ancient Wenaist hymn of praise of the same name, naturally embellished for propagandist purposes (the third verse in particular being an especially clunky addition).
Before The 660th Year, Gruenberg had no official national anthem, although various hymns and folk tunes were regularly sung at national events: these included Rak Tak Bazhta ['Rak The Holy'], Fein Escheklar Wena ['Glorious Mother Wena'], and Sliptdern Magwein Fromblet ['To Sing In Praise Is Great'].
Today's anthem was produced as a result of Polrak I's decision to introduce a standard national song that the military could easily memorise to sing on special parades. He commissioned several poets to adapt the folk-song into something more regal, but was displeased with their efforts (two, Baschten Ron and Klars Verfarrat, were in fact imprisoned for treason and blasphemy as a result of their compositions; the latter, whose song-cycle 'Long Green Land' gained popularity in the underground resistance movement that flowered in the wake of Polrak Woltzten II's clampdowns on civil liberties in the Gelzien Nub in The 682nd Year, was later boiled alive).
Finally, he decided to write it himself. (Many believe that Hochtep Swimmen, then assistant to Grand Vizier Clibold Mahu, in fact wrote the words, although spreading this rumour in Gruenberg is a treasonable offence.) No known extant copy of this original version, written either in the original tribal language of the folk-song, or more probably Bazhtan, remains. His words were then translated into Rukialkotta by three Wenaist scribes, and doubtless adapted further (the fourth verse in particular seems distinctly at odds with Polrak I's violent and cruel temperament).
The music came a year later, after a national competition. The perhaps surprising winner was a 23-year old from the northern region of Karundulastan. Ashwal Patamari had had no formal musical training, and worked on his father's small farm, picking beans. However, his adaptation of the traditional folk melody won, perhaps chosen in part because of its simplicity - many of the offerings of more recognised composers had proved too difficult for soldiers to sing. He was invited to study composition in Flurthwel, and was awarded a prestigious Court scholarship, but died of cholera on route. (It is highly likely he was in fact assassinated to prevent his becoming a cult figure, as this was common practice under Polrak I, but no evidence exists to prove this.) A statue commemorating his achievement was erected twenty years later, in Woltzten Square.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
The song's title gives rise to the national motto. As the eminent historian of Gruenberg H.D. Welch noted in his seminal essay, 'On The Rise Of The House Of Blood', "tempting as it may be to search for a note of irony in the choice of motto, such efforts would be misplaced...one can be assured that for the Court, and indeed for all loyal Gruenbergers, there really is nothing wrong, however bizarre such an observation might be in the face of crippling depression, ridiculous social imbalance, and oppression almost beyond comprehension."
The anthem is sung at the start of all sporting encounters, at every military procession, and before lunch on every school day. One verse is played on the hour, every hour, on state radio, and it is often requested in full on call-in music programmes. The song also accompanies Court television broadcasts. All royalties go to the Court.
Several parodies of the song exist. One, a humorous tribute to grandparents, was in fact released as a single by the Children's Choir of Gruenberg, and reached No. 18 in Radio Gruenberg's Hit Parade. Other versions are less affectionate, and looked on with much less tolerance by the Court: Bobatob Onaha, a popular singer-songwriter who played a witty take-off of the anthem entitled Kab-sez Turp Rasch Yurk Brachtrauron ['There's Nothing On My Plate'], lampooning Gardab XIII's obesity, was shot dead in the street (allegedly by angered patriots, although secret agents of the Court were more probably to blame), whilst an unknown guitarist who circulated a feedback-drenched punk version, complete with bitterly obscene lyrics, among the students of the Moroschwegen Agricultural College was reportedly dismembered in the infamous Gru-Kap prisons in Gevenis.
