instrument types. Ron Emoff, professor of music and anthropology at OSU Newark, notes that the anthem is not played in the vakondra-zana style, which is the style of the ancestors' music, also known as a form of traditional music. Emoff also notes that the anthem is usually not played on the local instrument, the valiha. This is because the anthem replicates the same essential ingredients that European hymns use, which are themselves based on old religious and nationalistic hymns. Lyrics Analysis of lyrics Researcher Igor Cusack identified several themes under which national anthems generally fall: calls to awake, arise, or work for future progress; praise for what is already there; and/or thanks to God. Cusack defines anthems as essentially praise hymns to God, the nation, or a parental figure, in keeping with the European origin of anthems as hymns. Writing about Madagascar, Cusack explains that it was influenced by its French colonial masters and featured the themes: blessed by God, God save our land/people, and a nonspecific love of their beloved land. According to Cusack, the first stanza focuses on an all-encompassing love of the nation and the land. It opens with a collective remembrance and affection for the past and the ways of the past as represented by the ancestors and closes with a nationalistic promise of fidelity and loyalty to the nation. Cusack states that the chorus is a prayer to the Creator, who is most likely the Christian God, based on Madagascar's French colonial legacy. It connects the present once again to the past of the ancestors and asks a general blessing of joy and happiness on the country and its people. The third stanza, Cusack states, is a response to the beauty of Madagascar and the love of its citizens have for it. They affirm their connection to the nation and their desire to serve the nation with body, heart and soul. The final stanza is said to reaffirm the love the Malagasy have for their beloved nation and ask blessings on it and its people by again referencing the Christian God. Notes References External links Madagascar: Ry Tanindrazanay malala ô - Audio of the national anthem of Madagascar, with information and lyrics (archive link) Malagasy culture National symbols of Madagascar African anthems 1958 songs National anthem compositions in A-flat major