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The Official Basque Anthem was approved by the Basque Parliament in Law 8/1983 on April 14 1983. From that moment, the anthem, together with the Basque flag, has become one of the Basques' most representative symbols.
The anthem, which has no lyrics, is based on a popular melody that was played before dances as a sort of flag-salute. Later, Sabino Arana Goiri, the father of Basque nationalism, wrote some lyrics and adapted them to the old tune, thus creating Gora ta Gora, now the official anthem of the PNV, the Basque Nationalist Party.
In 1935, the first Basque Government, a coalition formed by the PNV, PSOE (Spanish socialist party), Partido Republicano, ANV and the Communist Party approved the Official Anthem as we know it today. Forty-eight years later, in 1983, the Basque Parliament decided that the melody shown below was no longer exclusively identified with any particular political party and could be accepted as the official anthem:
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