National anthems get a remix ahead of second round of RWC matches

NEWS: World Cup 2023 organisers confirmed that “enhancements” have been made to national anthems.

In a statement issued early on Thursday, the France 2023 Organising Committee, World Rugby and the French Ministry of Sport, in agreement with the Opéra-Comique and participating teams have agreed to re-mixed versions of the national anthems, performed by the Mêlée des Choeurs, an educational and artistic project that involves more than 7,000 schoolchildren in the 2022/2023 school year.

The re-mixed anthems will retain the recordings of the children’s voices while boosting the instrumental elements.

Following positive feedback on the approach, a number of unions, notably France, have agreed to the use of these new versions with final confirmation from all teams to be achieved in the next 48
hours.

“All parties involved in the process would like to extend our warmest thanks to the students of the Mêlée des Choeurs, the teachers from the Education Nationale, the Maitrise Populaire and the Opéra-Comique, who have been passionately involved in this project since its inception,” said the statement.

“We would also like to thank the teams for their full support and look forward to fans getting behind their teams as the anthems are played.”