Tamasheq | Mama Lisa's World Blog

“Going to Timbuktu”… Where is Timbuktu Anyway?

Saturday, July 22nd, 2006

Nurcan wrote in looking for a song about going to Timbuktu. Here’s what Nurcan wrote…

Hi,

I found your website and it’s very interesting, learning a lot I didn’t know, in terms of where certain songs come from. However can you assist me? I am trying to work out a song about Timbuktu. It’s not the American version either. I believe it’s possibly old English or Australian. From memory it’s about a voyage and they’re going to Timbuktu, but it never really says where Timbuktu is, as they are always looking for it. I am Australian, heard this song in around grade 1, am 28 now but can’t remember and it’s driving me batty, lol.

Hope you can help. Thank you.

Cheers, Nurcan

This sounds very familiar to me, yet I can’t find it anywhere.

I do know that To go to Timbuktu, means to travel to the ends of the earth, or the most distant place you can imagine.

Timbuktu is a town in Mali in west Africa, on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. It was the one meeting place of the people of north Africa and the south.

It was established around 1100 AD by the Tuareg, a nomadic people of the Sahara. The name Timbuktu comes from the dialect they spoke, also called Timbuktu. It’s a dialect of a Berber language called Tamasheq.

Timbuktu was a major trading center for gold, salt and slaves, from the year 1200 AD, until at least the second half of the 16th century.

If anyone is familiar with the song Nurcan is looking for, please comment below.

Thanks!

Lisa

UPDATE: Nurcan wrote me again and posted the song in the comments below. It’s the Australian version of “The Sailor Went to Sea”.

Share on Facebook and other services: