Yodel-ay-hee ... what?! Those famed yodeling calls that for centuries have echoed through the Alps, and more recently have morphed into popular song and folk music, could soon reap a response, all the way from faraway Paris. Switzerland's government is looking for a shoutout from UN cultural agency UNESCO, based in the French capital, to include the tradition of yodeling on its list of intangible cultural heritage. A decision is expected by year's end, reports the AP.
Modern-day promoters emphasize that the yodel is far more than the mountain cries of yesteryear by falsetto-bellowing male herders in suspenders who intone alongside giant alpenhorns atop verdant hillsides. Now, it's evolved into a popular form of singing. Over the last century, Swiss yodeling clubs sprung up, broadening its appeal, with its tones, techniques, and tremolos finding their way deeper into the musical lexicon internationally in classical, jazz, and folk. US country crooners prominently blended yodels into their songs in the late 1920s and '30s.
The Swiss government says at least 12,000 yodelers take part via about 780 groups of the Swiss Yodeling Association. About seven years ago, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts became the first Swiss university to teach yodeling, with professor Nadja Raess calling it the nation's fifth language. Yodeling exists in neighboring Austria, Germany, and Italy, but Swiss yodeling is distinctive because of its vocal technique, per Raess. In its early days, yodeling involved chants of wordless vowel sounds, or "natural yodeling," with melodies but no lyrics. More recently, "yodeling song" has included verses and a refrain. Even within Switzerland, styles vary: Yodeling in the north is more "melancholic, slower," while in the country's central regions, the sounds are "more intense and shorter," she said.
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What began as mostly a male activity is also now drawing more and more women. Julien Vuilleumier, a scientific adviser for the Federal Office of Culture who's spearheading the Swiss request, said it's tough to trace the origins of yodeling, which factors into the imagery of the Swiss Alps. "Some say it's a means of communication between valleys, using these very distinctive sounds that can carry a long way," he says. "Others believe it's a form of singing. What we know is that ... yodeling has always been transformed and updated." UNESCO's government-level committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage will decide in mid-December. (More here.)
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