Choir attempts record with cow-calling song

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.

swissinfo.ch and agencies