Post by @benjamingeer@piaille.fr

2026-07-05 20:00 UTC

The Moroccan geographer Mohamed Berriane just told me an amazing story: About ten years ago, in Corsica, he talked to some Corsicans who had been hiking in the mountains in Morocco. On a high mountain slope, they encountered some bad weather and got lost. So they did what Corsicans do in that situation: they sang a specific song, which is known in Corsica as a call for help. And right away, some local Amazighs heard them and came to help them, because the Amazighs have the same song, which they use in the same way. Mohamed thought this was fascinating and should be studied, but hasn't found anyone who's interested. @lameensouag.bsky.social

Replies (8)

@alessandro@cosocial.ca 2026-07-05 21:15

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr Love this - I wonder what the common thread was. Norman? Arab? Goth? Roman? @lameensouag.bsky.social

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@gimulnautti@mastodon.green 2026-07-05 21:27

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr @lameensouag.bsky.social Sounds like a job for an ethnomusicologist! 👋

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@teoman@discuss.systems 2026-07-05 21:40

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr @lameensouag.bsky.social Reminds me of the ending scene of Paths of Glory.

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@Gasmatt@mastodon.social 2026-07-05 21:44

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr @lameensouag.bsky.social Years ago, was with my French wife, walking past a primary school & over the wall came the same kids' taunting song I'd used in school: Na Na Nanaa Nah. We're both curious about similarities/differences between french/english. Back at work, asked every foreign born health worker if they sung it. All but 2 (born deep in China & deep in Pakistan) had. Including Zimbabwean who remembered shock at seeing 1st white person. That's v old.

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@rcosta@archaeo.social 2026-07-06 00:08

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr @lameensouag.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy Michel Giacometti was an ethnomusicologist from Corsica that worked in Portugal during the last century. One of the things that strike him was the similarities between polyphonic song tradition from Corsica and the ones he found in Portugal. The origin of those similarities in Mediterranean music is highly debatable. Probably they have a roman liturgical origin with posterior oriental/arabic contributions. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Giacometti

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@daniel@campduffel.social 2026-07-06 11:06

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr @lameensouag.bsky.social https://youtu.be/cueulBxn1Fw

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@lameensouag.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy 2026-07-06 11:27

Great story! If you have a recording of either song, I'd be interested to hear it

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@mlforcada@mastodont.cat 2026-07-06 13:59

@benjamingeer@piaille.fr Are we talking about some kind of Corsican "lamentu" and some kind of Amazigh "tamawayt"?

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