Ibu Pertiwi (song)


Ibu Pertiwi is a popular Indonesian patriotic song composed by Kamsidi Samsuddin in 1908. The song's lyrics are about Ibu Pertiwi, the national personification of Indonesia. It is normally sung by Indonesian children, elementary and secondary school students, or played during Indonesian Independence Day celebrations. In 2016 the Indonesian classical composer, Ananda Sukarlan, made a set of variations for piano based on this song.

Lyrics

The lyrics are as following:

Original lyrics

First verse:
Second verse:

Translation

First verse:
Second verse:

Adoption of Christian Hymn music

Although the lyrics were originally composed, the music and melody of this adoptation resembled the Christian hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus, originally written by Joseph M. Scriven as a poem in 1855. The hymn is sung in Indonesian as Yesus Kawan yang Sejati and in Toba Batak as Ise do Alealenta and is popular in Batak churches, as well as in Protestant and Roman Catholic churches. Even though Indonesia has a statistically larger Muslim community, the hymn is quite widely known. Prior his death in 1958, the melody of the music was adopted by Kamsidi Samsuddin, the composer of the Ibu Pertiwi song.