La Borinqueña

The title refers to the aboriginal Taíno name for the island of Puerto Rico, Borinquén.

Manuel Fernandez Juncos, the author of the current officially-adopted lyrics of "La Borinqueña".

The music was originally credited to Félix Astol Artés in 1867 as a habanera danza, with romantic lyrics, but there is some evidence that Francisco Ramírez, a native of San Germán, wrote the music[3] in 1860, and named it "La Almojábana".[7] In 1868, Lola Rodríguez de Tió wrote a poem in support of the Puerto Rican revolution, which was set to the Ramirez/Astol Artés music. In fear of investigation by the Spanish government, Ramirez asked Astól to claim authorship of the music since he was a native of Catalonia and would, therefore, raise no suspicion.[3]

After the cession of the island to the United States, the popular revolutionary lyrics of Lola Rodríguez de Tío were deemed too subversive for official adoption; therefore, a non-confrontational set of lyrics were written in 1903 by Asturias-born Manuel Fernández Juncos. The tune was officially adopted as Puerto Rico's national anthem in 1952 by governor Luis Muñoz Marín, and the words were adopted in 1977 by governor Carlos Romero Barceló.

The version of "La Borinqueña" that is most commonly performed today is performed as a slow-tempo march, without the original tune's initial paseo. Per the request of the new government, Ramón Collado rearranged the music in 1952 into a more military-like tune.[8] Luis Miranda, the musical director of Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment Band, adapted the tune to be played as a march in 1922. The 1977 law that officially adopted the words merely stated that "La Borinqueña" be played as a march, with the tempo vaguely described as being in a "martial manner", but established no official arrangement for the music. An official revision made in 2003 leaves the tune as a march.

In 2012, Dr. Yajaira Sierra Sastre, an aspiring astronaut, collaborated in a variety of projects with the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network and the Cornell Nanoscale Facility, which included writing the smallest "national" anthem ever written, "La Borinqueña Más Pequeña".[9]

According to Puerto Rico Law # 2 of July 24, 1952, both "La Borinqueña" and The Star Spangled Banner are played at official events.[10]

Current lyrics, as written by Manuel Fernández Juncos and adopted in 1903.

Original 1868 revolutionary lyrics

Lola Rodríguez de Tío

¡Despierta, borinqueño que han dado la señal! ¡Despierta de ese sueño que es hora de luchar! A ese llamar patriótico ¿no arde tu corazón? ¡Ven! Nos será simpático el ruido del cañón. Mira, ya el cubano libre será; le dará el machete su libertad... le dará el machete su libertad. Ya el tambor guerrero dice en su son, que es la manigua el sitio, el sitio de la reunión, de la reunión... de la reunión. El Grito de Lares se ha de repetir, y entonces sabremos vencer o morir. Bellísima Borinquén, a Cuba hay que seguir; tú tienes bravos hijos que quieren combatir. ya por más tiempo impávido no podemos estar, ya no queremos, tímidos dejarnos subyugar. Nosotros queremos ser libre ya, y nuestro machete afilado está. y nuestro machete afilado está. ¿Por qué, entonces, nosotros hemos de estar, tan dormidos y sordos y sordos a esa señal? a esa señal, a esa señal? No hay que temer, riqueños al ruido del cañón, que salvar a la patria es deber del corazón! ya no queremos déspotas, caiga el tirano ya, las mujeres indómitas también sabrán luchar. Nosotros queremos la libertad, y nuestros machetes nos la darán... y nuestro machete nos la dará... Vámonos, borinqueños, vámonos ya, que nos espera ansiosa, ansiosa la libertad. ¡La libertad, la libertad!

Arise, boricua! The call to arms has sounded! Awake from the slumber, it is time to fight! Doesn't this patriotic call set your heart alight? Come! We are in tune with the roar of the cannon. Come, Come, the Cuban will soon be freed; the machete will give him his justice, the machete will give him his liberty. Now the drums of war speak with their music, that the jungle is the place, the meeting place. The meeting... The meeting... The Cry of Lares must be repeated, and then we will know: victory or death. Beautiful Borinquén must follow Cuba; you have brave sons who wish to fight. Now, no longer can we be unmoved; now we do not want timidly to let them subjugate us. We want to be free now, and our machete has been sharpened. We want to be free now, and our machete has been sharpened. Why, then, have we been so sleepy and deaf to the call? To the call, to the call? There is no need to fear, Ricans, the roar of the cannon; saving the nation is the duty of the heart. We no longer want despots, tyranny shall fall now; the unconquerable women also will know how to fight. We want freedom, and our machetes will give it to us. We want freedom, and our machetes will give it to us. Come, Boricuas, come now, since freedom awaits us anxiously, freedom, freedom!

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• MIDI version