Negaraku

We were discussing with some of our friends on the origin of Negaraku, Malaysia's national Anthem.

I pointed out to this excerpts from Wikipedia :


The song was composed by Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780-1857), a French lyricist. It became a popular French melody, and was prominent on the island of Mahé in Seychelles. The song's popularity spread across the Indian Ocean and reached as far as the Malay Archipelago early in the 20th century. An Indonesian Bangsawan made the first debut of the song while performing in Singapore. The melody soon became very popular among the the people and was given the name Terang Bulan(Bright Moon), becoming a Malay 'evergreen'.


While I don't trust all content of the Wikipedia, I know that Negaraku was originated from the song "Terang Bulan". I remember learning it in History lesson in secondary school.

I'm not making any point here, except, we should think of originality next time. I agree that originality is rare (even Nirvana's song Smells Like a Teen Spirit was inspired by song by The Pixies, "Gigantic"). But the song sounds distinctive enough that we (at least most of the kids grew up in the 90s) know exactly , when we listen to the few chords at the beginning, we know it's Smells Like a Teen Spirit, and nothing else.

Don't believe me? Listen to this orchestra