The four decades behind Saudi Arabia’s national anthem

RIYADH — Saudis know its opening notes instantly. At schools, sporting events, official ceremonies and international occasions, the national anthem begins with the call: “Sarei lil-majd wal-alya” — “Hasten to glory and supremacy.”But the anthem familiar today did not emerge all at once.Its story unfolded over nearly four decades, beginning with a royal salute that had music but no lyrics and culminating in 1984 with words written to fit a melody that was already part of Saudi national life.According to the King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives, known as Darah, the musical origins date to 1946, during the reign of King Abdulaziz.That year, musician Abdulrahman Al-Khatib composed the first version of the royal salute, establishing the musical foundation from which the later national anthem would develop.More than a decade later, words entered the story.In 1958, during the reign of King Saud, Saudi poet Mohammed Talat wrote a patriotic composition for the King’s historic visit to Taif.Its verses expressed loyalty and national pride, but the anthem had still not reached the form recognized today.During the reign of King Faisal, the royal salute continued to be played using the established melody without official lyrics.The idea of giving the music permanent words emerged again during the reign of King Khalid. A project was proposed to create lyrics compatible with the existing melody, but his death prevented it from being completed.It was during the reign of King Fahd that the project returned.The challenge was unusual: the poet was not being asked to write a song for which music would later be composed. The words had to fit a melody that already existed and was familiar to listeners.At the suggestion of Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal, Saudi poet Ibrahim Khafaji was entrusted with the task.Khafaji wrote the words that would become inseparable from the melody:“Hasten to glory and supremacy…”The guide credits musician Tariq Abdulhakim with playing the royal-salute melody on the trumpet, while composer Siraj Omar undertook the musical arrangement necessary to match Khafaji’s words with the existing composition.The process brought together different generations of Saudi musical and literary history: a melody whose origins reached back to the reign of the founder, a poet charged with giving that music a national voice, and musicians responsible for bringing words and composition together.On July 1, 1984, the completed anthem was officially adopted and broadcast on Saudi radio and television.The musical journey that had begun in 1946 finally had its words.Its four sections are brief.Yet within them are ideas that have made the anthem immediately recognizable across generations: glory, pride, the green flag, the Shahada and loyalty to the homeland and the King.Nearly four decades separated the first royal-salute melody from the official adoption of the anthem.Today, those decades are compressed into moments.The first notes sound.The words begin.And millions know exactly what comes next.