That's right, national anthems is the answer! Let us recap back the clues I had provided and see how you can arrive at national anthems.


First, the English vs Korean posts was meant to highlight the differences between 2 languages. The post was about different languages.


Second, the flowers. Actually some of our friends correctly noted that the flowers are not just some random flowers but are in fact, national flowers. These are the countries which adopted those flowers as national symbols:

Tulip - The Netherlands
Rose of Sharon - South Korea
Sampaguita - The Philippines
Maple leaf - Canada
Lavender - Portugal
Chrysanthemum - Japan. Nope the cherry blossom aka sakura is not the national flower of Japan, though popular.
Edelweiss - Switzerland. Is it any surprise when Switzerland is so mountainous and edelweiss grows on mountains?
Chinese hibiscus - Malaysia
Chamomile - Russian Federation
Arabian coffee flower - Republic of Yemen


Then we came to the last clue which featured the video "How to Read Music". There are 2 hints in this video. Firstly, about music, and secondly, the "flags" which point to the music notes in the video.


Combine all 3 clues:


Ok this is not maths but that's how I had originally intended it to be. :P


Congrats to Rad Sujanto for winning. Hey no harm guessing right? And by any luck you hit the correct keywords so there, the novel's yours!

Will post a picture of the novel in next post.

But then one of our other friends was this close to the correct answer, I could not simply just ignore her entry. She made so much effort so I'm also giving her another prize which I'll reveal in the next post.


Lol at the last remark. Well nothing counts except when you win, so it doesn't matter whether one is ok or weirdo. All it matters is daring to try =)

Congrats to owBEe too!


Ok now to the content.

For this week's MM selection, I have selected a number of national anthems to be featured here. Before anything, please note that these are my personal observations about national anthems; no national anthem is being disparaged here, I don't give any support to the featured countries' anthems, they're here merely for the music.

Which national anthem do you like? What criteria do you use for evaluating the music in the anthems? For me I tend to regard classical aka non-choral versions of national anthems to be the best to listen to. But I also like certain choral versions. After having browsed through for several anthems these few days, here are some of the most beautiful anthems I've heard.

Ladies and gentlemen, please stand up for the anthem of: