Despite being a source of pride, some national anthems spread violence. The most known example is the hymn of France, La Marseillaise, in which the citizens are encouraged by the lyrics to “soak the country’s fields with the enemies’ blood.” Romania’s national anthem, Deșteaptă-te Române, shows that its people would rather prefer to be dead than be slaves on their own land. Cuba’s hymn simply asks its people to “run, brave ones, to battle!” assuring them that dying for their homeland is to live. So, you see, there’s a pattern: Almost every anthem in the world speaks about bloodshed, violence, and war.

Whether we like it or not, these songs are a “celebration and glorification of war,” said Charlotte Whalen and Ieva Povilauskaite, two students at Miami Ad School Europe. But things can change. The duo, in partnership with Google, a company already known for encouraging communication by launching applications such as Google Translate or Google Fonts, calls for unity through a new anthem. “Ghedh,” which means “fit together,” combines every existing anthem’s peaceful lyrics, only to deliver a song that’s friendly with the citizens of every country in the world.

Speaking about her foreign colleagues, Whalen, the pair’s copywriter, said that she noticed similarities between her and them, regardless of their birthplace. This revelation made her say that “different countries can come together to create beautiful things.” So, the students started comparing the national anthems with those of their international friends. But they discovered something haunting: Lyrics instigating violence. Shortly, the duo connected these lyrics with the language used by advocates of nationalist extremism and xenophobia. “When we define identity by the bloodstains of history, we glorify violence and motivate atrocity,” reads the campaign.

Their brainchild, Ghedh, is a tool that can be used to achieve world peace. The song features lyrics from each country’s anthem in a new hymn that suits everyone. One of the fragments we love most is a combination of Arabic and Eastern European lyrics. When the puzzle is put together, it delivers a peaceful message: “We’ll stand together for freedom / The believers of justice / At times of peace / Let us dance in happiness.”

The campaign is promoted by a two-minute-long video that speaks about the anthem, Google’s mission to achieve global unity, and a symbol of harmony, created in such manner so that it can be deciphered by anyone in the world. A vinyl cover nicely complements this package, made from 195 layers of beautifully rendered cut and pressed paper form the symbol, the number representing the countries and their anthems coming together for Ghedh.

The creatives behind the project hope to make the hymn’s voice loud and clear: “We are more than war — and a united world is worth singing for.” So, don’t you just love what harmony sounds like?

Credits:

Client: Google

Agency: Miami Ad School Europe

Copywriter: Charlotte Whalen

Art Director: Ieva Povilauskaite