At the end of October, the whole of Slovakia was surprised by the information that the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic, in cooperation with the Slovak Philharmonic, is working on an adaptation of the national anthem led by musician, producer, conductor and composer Oskar Rózs. The Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová announced in mid-December that the new version of the anthem will be officially played for the first time in the first minutes of the new year 2025.
Just a few days before the premiere, Oskar Rózsa spoke to his followers on the social network and talked about the new anthem. “Three seconds of silence. The New Year’s premiere is fast approaching and will end one chapter of a person’s life. I am one of many and at the same time alone. I give up the applause, that sweet reward that always comes spontaneously after those three seconds of tense silence after the last reverberation of the last chord“, he wrote at the beginning.
He sees something deeper in it. “If it wasn’t for those three seconds, there would be no applause. And that’s why it’s not really about the applause, and at the same time it’s defined by what happens in those three seconds. Anyone who has this knowledge lives for those three tense seconds of silence, taut as strings. I wish that time stopped for three seconds after the first listen. For a sense of wholeness to flood your being for a moment. Where you can always return in your memories,” continued Oskar.
He sent an important message to his followers. “Until the new year 2025, from the depth of my being, I wish everything that I put into the redefinition of the Slovak anthem to the entire Slovak nation. To every family table, even to the silence of the solitude of the kicked-out. The anthem sounds directly from the soul of the Slovak nation. I wish lost hope to those whose hearts are pure and weary, and courage to those whose hearts are pure but fragile and wounded. I wish us three seconds of happiness, in an unforgettable silence“, he added.
