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Its music (composer unknown, as with all folklore) was written down to notes for the first time by a Serb musician from Croatia by the name of Nikola Hercigonja shortly after World War II, who falsely assumed that Montenegrin WWII Nazi-fascist collaborator Sekula Drljević was the song's original author. It has had many variations and changes to find verses which were more suitable for both melodic and political purposes. Drljevic is the author of 3rd and 4th stanzas of the modern official anthem. The current text of the official anthem is derived from the text written by Drljevic to be the Montenegrin national anthem in the early 1930s, but slightly amended, namely removing the references celebrating a slaughter of Muslims. It was proclaimed an anthem by the Parliament of Montenegro on July 13, 2004 � the Statehood day of the country. It was originally one of the main candidates for the official anthem when originally proposed in 1993, and same discussions were reopened regarding the lack of melodic value of the song, which was given in '93 as the definition as to why it cannot be an anthem. King Nicholas' Onamo, 'namo! ("There, o'er There!") was in 1993 officially proposed to be the national anthem, but it failed to receive a parliamentary majority, because many had considered it far too aggressive like the French anthem, precisely also why it was dubbed as "The Serbian Marseilleise", and because some pro-monarchists had wanted back the official anthem of the old Kingdom of Montenegro Ubavoj nam Crnoj Gori ("To Our Beautiful Montenegro"). The parliamentary session on which the Law on National Symbols was passed by DPS and SDP as a sign of reassertion of Montenegrin sovereignty on the path towards independence from its state union with Serbia was boycotted by the opposition in protest, both by the pro-Serbian mainstream political alliance and by the minor Liberals. The "Together for Change" SNP-led coalition considered the anthem a falsification of history and outrageous to introduce the text written by a Nazi collaborator. The Liberal Alliance of Montenegro's masses had originally gathered around chants while opposing DPS' unquestionable reign during the 1990s, which is the source of popularization of the song as the national anthem of Montenegro and a symbol of desire for independence, although they boycotted the parliament with accusations of no true desire for secession. DPS had originally wanted "To Our Beautiful Montenegro" back, but it accepted SDP CG's explicit demands for "Oh, Bright Dawn of May". The Albanians objected the anthem because they demanded the verse "our mother Montenegro" replaced by "our house Montenegro" for the Albanian populations' sake. The anthem entered the Constitution of Montenegro during the draft of the new one in 2007, by a two-third parliamentary supermajority, of the government (DPS&HGI - SDP) and the Movement for Changes and the coalition of the Liberal Party of Montenegro and the Bosniak Party of Montenegro from the opposition. In order to change the anthem (or more precisely, its official name), a two-third parliamentary majority is needed to pass the motion, after which at least 50% of Montenegro's electorate must confirm the change in a referendum. SNP CG did not object the anthem and concurred with the DPS and PZP that its text should be changed, with Nebojša Medojević satirically noting that the smaller the country the bigger the anthem, but disliked other parts of the constitution. People's Party-Democratic Serb Party had wanted the return of "To Our Beautiful Montenegro", while the Serb List political alliance wanted "There, o'er There!". The Albanian minority parties (DUA, DSCG and AA) had abstained, noting the failure of the authorities to convince also SDP to sign the treaty on the constitution, which would guarantee them certain provisions, with DUA repeating their demand for changing "mother" to "house". Currently, there is an ongoing dispute as to whether the Law on National Symbols should receive amendments which would change its text due to the highly controversial character of its alleged author and lack of melodic value. |