News : Hans Zimmer to reimagine Saudi Arabia’s national anthem

Gladiator and Dune composer, Hans Zimmer, has been commissioned to write a new interpretation of the national anthem of Saudi Arabia.

Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the country’s General Entertainment Authority, announced the news via X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the composer’s live performance in Riyadh on January 24. He shared a picture of himself with Zimmer, and revealed that the title of the piece will be simply ‘Arabia’.

Translated from Arabic, the post reads: “Today I met someone who is considered one of the greatest musicians of our time… the legend Hans Zimmer.

“We discussed a lot about many future projects that I hope will see the light of day soon… including redistributing the Saudi national anthem with different instruments, as well as making a musical piece called ‘Arabia’ inspired by my dear country, and also making a very large concert with a new idea for the Riyadh season in the coming years”.

Alalshikh also disclosed that Zimmer may be involved in the production of the Saudi film The Battle of Yarmouk, saying they “agreed on the broad outlines of all these projects” and he hoped they “will reach a final agreement on them”.

Zimmer is one of the most celebrated film composers of all time, having composed music for over 150 movies including The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar and Dunkirk for Christopher Nolan; as well as animated classic The Lion King. He has two Oscars and four Grammys, and is considered to have revolutionised big screen scores over his decades of success.

Recently, Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve said he believed Hans Zimmer’s score for the film should be considered for an Oscar after being deemed ineligible. The composer also shared his theme for the video game Dragon Age: The Veilguard.