A world record, it seems:
A choir of 2,000 attempted to set a world record on Saturday by singing one of Switzerland’s best-loved traditional songs, a herdsman’s melody from canton Fribourg. Saturday’s performance at Villars-sur-Glâne was recorded on camera, and a legal attestation will be sent to the Guinness Book of Records for approval.
The coordinator of the event, Véronique Monney, said the aim was not to break an existing record but to set one. However, she admitted to the “La Liberté” newspaper that it would be difficult to get it accepted.
The Gruyères Ranz des Vaches was originally an unaccompanied song used to call cows for milking, well known for its haunting “lyôba” refrain.
It is said that it was forbidden to sing the song in the presence of Swiss mercenary soldiers as it made them homesick and unable to fight. The composer Rossini used the melody in his famous William Tell overture.
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