"Quisqueyanos valientes" ("Valiant Sons of Quisqueya") is the national anthem of the Dominican Republic. "Quisqueya" is the native word for the island of Hispaniola. Written in 1893 and adopted in 1897, the words were written by Emilio Prud'homme (1856-1932) and the music was composed by José Reyés. First Sung as national anthem in 1900.

Spanish lyrics

I

Quisqueyanos valientes, alcemos

Nuestro canto con viva emoción,

Y del mundo a la faz ostentemos

Nuestro invicto glorioso pendón.

¡Salve el pueblo que intrépido y fuerte,

A la guerra a morir se lanzó

Cuando en bélico reto de muerte

Sus cadenas de esclavo rompió.

Ningun pueblo ser libre merece

Si es esclavo indolente y servil;

Si en su pecho la llama no crece

Que templó el heroismo viril.

Mas Quisqueya la indómita y brava

Siempre altiva la frente alzará:

Que si fuere mil veces esclava

Otras tantas ser libre sabrá.

II

Que si dolo y ardid la expusieron

de un intruso señor al desdén,

¡Las Carreras ! ¡Beller!... campos fueron

que cubiertos de gloria se ven.

Que en la cima de heroíco baluarte,

de los libres el verbo encarnó,

donde el genio de Sánchez y Duarte

a ser libre o morir enseñó.

Y si pudo inconsulto caudillo

de esas glorias el brillo empañar,

de la guerra se vió en Capotillo

la bandera de fuego ondear.

Y el incendio que atónito deja

de Castilla al soberbio león,

de las playas gloriosas le aleja

donde flota el cruzado pendón.

III

Compatriotas, mostremos erguida

nuestra frente, orgullosos de hoy más;

que Quisqueya será destruida

pero sierva de nuevo, jamás.

Que es santuario de amor cada pecho

do la patria se siente vivir;

Y es su escudo invencible, el derecho;

Y es su lema: ser libre o morir.

Libertad que aún se yergue serena

La victoria en su carro triunfal.

Y el clarín de la guerra aún resuena

Pregonando su gloria inmortal.

¡Libertad! Que los ecos se agiten

Mientras llenos de noble ansiedad

Nuestros campos de gloria repiten

¡Libertad! ¡Libertad! ¡Libertad!

English translation

I

Brave men of Quisqueya,

Let us sing with strong feeling

And let us show to the world

Our invincible, glorious banner.

Hail, O people who, strong and intrepid,

Launched into war and went to death!

Under a warlike menace of death,

You broke your chains of slavery.

No country deserves to be free

If it is an indolent and servile slave,

If the call does not grow loud within it,

Tempered by a virile heroism.

But the brave and indomitable Quisqueya

Will always hold its head high,

For if it were a thousand times enslaved,

It would a thousand times regain freedom.

II

If it will be exposed to ruse and deceit

Unto contempt of a real imposer,

On to Las Carreras! Beler! ...it were places

Where the traces of glory are found.

Where on the top of the heroic bastion,

The word of the libarated became flesh,

Where the genius of Sánchez and Duarte

Taught to be free or to die.

And if an unattended leader the splendor

Of these glorious events could ignore,

One has seen in Capotillo in the war

The flag of fire wave.

And the fire that lets the proud lion

Of Castilla become stupefied,

Removes him from the glorious beaches

Where the crossed banner waves.

III

Compatriots, let us proudly

Show our face, from today prouder than ever;

Quisqueya may be destroyed

But a slave again, never!

It is a sanctuary of love that every character

Of the fatherland feels alive!

And it is his coat of arms, the right;

And it is his device: be free or die.

Freedom that still rises cool-bloodedly

The victory in her triumphal car.

And the clarion of war re-echoes

Proclaiming his immortal glory.

Freedom! That the echo's touch

While they're full of noble tension

Our fields of glory repeat

Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!

External link

• MIDI file