Description :
This episode of Orality and Humanity is part of the European project Tramontana Network (Réseau Tramontana / Tramontana Network), co-financed by the European Union, which brings together rural and mountain territories to preserve oral traditions, local languages and the human experiences carried by their inhabitants. In this programme, Jean-Paul Ferré discusses the work developed with the collective of land workers from Orsau-Comminges and the Yalat-Tramontana network, focusing on the value of testimonies from Gascon speakers and the importance of transmitting memories that are at risk of disappearing. The conversation explores why meeting elderly inhabitants represents a privileged moment for understanding the history, culture and identity of these territories.
Jean-Paul Ferré explains that the people he interviews are witnesses to a world that has undergone profound transformations: changes in agricultural techniques, ways of working, social values and relationships with the land. These men and women have inherited stories from previous generations, learned their language at home and preserved knowledge linked to traditional rural life. The programme highlights the example of Jean-Baptiste Centenac, born in 1922 in Gascony, who represents this generation of storytellers. His personality, humour, self-derision and attachment to the Occitan language illustrate a form of wisdom and humanity developed through a long relationship with the territory and its communities.
The final part of the programme presents a traditional saying involving animals, remembered by Jean-Baptiste Centenac, in which a rooster and a small bird exchange words connected to the local geography and the market of Sembiac. Beyond its apparent simplicity, this oral tradition reveals the close relationship between humans, animals, language and landscape. Jean-Paul Ferré and the presenter underline that such expressions contain lessons about rural life, mobility, exchange and collective memory. Through Tramontana, these voices and stories become a shared European heritage, demonstrating that rurality is not only a way of life but also a source of humanity, knowledge and cultural richness.