page_title: Negaraku
section_title: Use of Perak State Anthem melody
hierarchical_section_title: Negaraku / History / Use of Perak State Anthem melody
context_page_description: Negaraku is the national anthem of Malaysia. It was selected as a national anthem at the time of the Federation of Malaya's independence from the UK in 1957. The tune was originally used as the regional anthem of Perak, which was adopted from a popular French melody titled "La Rosalie" composed by the lyricist Pierre-Jean de Béranger.
  Some of the musical renditions were modified several times in 1992, 2003 and 2006.
context_section_description: The Committee then turned to the Perak State Anthem. On 5 August 1957, it was selected on account of the "traditional flavour" of its melody. New lyrics for the national anthem were written jointly by the Panel of Judges— with the Tunku himself playing the leading role. At the time this melody was, while still the State Anthem of Perak, Allah Lanjutkan Usia Sultan.
  The song had been very popular on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles, where the Sultan of Perak had formerly been living in exile. Some rumours claimed that he heard it at a public band concert on the island, a song to a popular French melody claimed to have been composed by the lyricist Pierre-Jean de Béranger (1780–1857), who was born and died in Paris. But there is no evidence for this since he was a lyricist who use tunes by other for his song and the title is not listed in the four published volumes of his songs or the volume of tune he used for his songs.  It is also claimed that when Sultan Idris Murshidul’adzam Shah, who was the Ruler of the State of Perak from 1887 to 1916, represented the Malay Rulers of the Federated Malay States at the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1901, his protocol officer was asked what his state anthem was. Realising that his state did not in fact possess an anthem, he, in order not to appear backward in front of his hosts, proceeded to hum the aforementioned tune.
  The song was later introduced into an Indonesian Bangsawan (Opera), which was performing in Singapore around 1940. In no time at all, the melody became extremely popular and was given the name "Terang Bulan". Aside from its dignity and prestige as the Perak State Anthem, the song became a Malayan "evergreen", playing at parties, in cabarets and sung by almost everybody in the 1920s and 1930s. (Today, of course, since independence, it is not played as a popular melody, and any such use is proscribed by statute.) The anthem was given a new quick march beat in 1992, which proved unpopular. Some Malaysians have gone as far as to say that the altered tempo resembled circus music, and was the subject of much derision.
caption: Sultan Abdullah of Perak, who adopted Pierre's "La Rosalie" as the Perak Royal Anthem during his exile on Seychelles for abetting murder.
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