Children's Anthem / Vi ere en Nasjon vi med

This anthem has a melody composed by Gretry (1741-1813). He was born in Liege (today Belgium) but took on a French citizenship and worked as an opera composer in France. This beautiful melody was used by one of Norway's famous writers Henrik Wergerland, who also was working hard to get Norway 'divorced' from Sweden. He (and others) started out to make a parade on the 17th of May to selebrate the constitution that was made in 1814 when Denmark sold us out to Sweden. It was not a military parade, but it was a piecful parade of children singing Norwegian songs. The lyric is written so you think it is how our freedom struggle will be like for a child. It also refers to the Norwegian National Anthem. Since it was used in the parades, many Norwegian sing this song as if it was a march, even if it is notated in ¥ time. (Starting out with beat 2 in the first bar of the melody and then put pressure on every 2nd beat as if it was a march).