Parliament considers changing Canarian anthem to include La Graciosa

The Canarian parliament has proposed changing the Canarian anthem to include La Graciosa, which was officially declared the eighth Canary Island in 2018.

The Canarian anthem was composed by the Canarian-Irish composer Teobaldo Power, based on a local lullaby Arrorro. In 2003, it received lyrics written by the Lanzarote timple maestro Benito Cabrera.

The proposed change would simply be to substitute “eight” for the word “seven” in the lines “I am volcano, salt and lava spread among seven rocks, the pulse of my heart beats”.

Meanwhile, on Lanzarote, a Young Nationalist Association raised a Canarian flag featuring eight stars instead of seven.  

The flag with stars representing each island is not the official Canarian flag, which bears the Canarian coat of arms. However, the starred flag has long been favoured by separatist and nationalist Canarian groups, who oppose the status of the Canaries as an autonomous community of the Spanish state and Crown.