Dear Editor

I am not against artists singing the National Anthem and putting their own stamp on it like Whitney Houston did with the American National Anthem, “Star-Spangled Banner” several years ago.

However, when the song is dragged down in the manner Oungku used it, I am dismayed.

I say “dragged down” because the new up-tempo version has listeners gyrating to it and that’s not the way we want our national symbol handled. Not now, not ever.

It is a symbol of our national pride and we heed to its tune and stand at attention whenever it is heard.

We do not jump in the air, wave our hands and scream “Antigua, Barbuda” nor shake our bottoms to the beat, as was the reaction I saw from some people during the Easter holiday period.

Let’s show respect for the work of art created by our sons of the soil Novelle Hamilton Richards, who wrote the lyrics and Walter Garnet Picart Chambers who composed the music.