The Best National Anthems: The UK

Getting closer to revealing the best national anthem… Before we get to #4, let’s recap the top ten so far: 10. Greece, “Hymn to Liberty” 9. Uruguay, “National Anthem of Uruguay” 8. Russia, “National Anthem of the Russian Federation” 7. China, “Song of the Volunteers” 6. Japan, “Kimigayo” 5. Brazil, “The Brazilian National Anthem” If … More The Best National Anthems: The UK

The Best National Anthems: Brazil

In my quest to identify the World’s Best National Anthem, we breezed through six also-rans and three honorable mentions en route to last Friday’s reveal of my Modern Europe students’ choice for the 6th best anthem: Japan’s “Kimigayo.” Again, the initial rankings were based on a semi-serious but mostly objective calculation weighing three factors: how … More The Best National Anthems: Brazil

The Best National Anthems: Honorable Mentions

Today we get closer to settling, once and for all, the question, “What’s the best national anthem?” On Monday I explained how this series stemmed from an exploration of 19th century European nationalism in my Modern Europe course. Yesterday I revealed six national anthems that didn’t really come close to making the cut for our … More The Best National Anthems: Honorable Mentions

Radio Kings: Wilco

Last Tuesday the Minneapolis band known as the Jayhawks released their first album since 2003 (and their first with founder Mark Olson since the mid-1990s), leading me to take a break from typical Pietist Schoolman topics and propose the ten Jayhawks’ songs that would best introduce the band to a newbie. The Jayhawks are perhaps … More Radio Kings: Wilco

My Four Favorite Sounds

One of my favorite things about the church we attend is its music ministry. Even for a church of our size, it’s remarkable that we have enough musically gifted members (some of them professional musicians, most talented amateurs) to support multiple adult, youth, and children’s choirs, a contemporary worship band, bell choirs, a wind ensemble, … More My Four Favorite Sounds