World Music
V.A. : The Rough guide to YODEL (VAR,2006)***°°
I once discovered in library a very old recording of yodelling, the original form of communicating with cows and dogs,.. in the mountains, in combination with the cowbells, sounded like a pretty abstract natural language in nature, without song, but as a pure communicative form, comparable to what the Inui developed as a nature language or so. Just after that I realized how Bushmen/Pigmies had also a nature sounds language when herding, which sounds extremely similar to the Swiss form. At some point yodelling in Switzerland became a form of a contest, and then quickly an entertainment form, with a whole different approach taken out of the original content, but with a great degree of successful entertainment. One of the best 10 inch records I once found on a flea market was “So jodelt es in die Bergen” by the Waakirchner Sänger,… a record which, when I was young, I played at 45 RPM instead of 33 RPM to make me laugh in times of need, something which would have worked as well for bringing joy on normal speed.
This compilation is done by yodel enthusiast Bart Plantenga, who wrote a book on yodelling, “Yodel-Ay-Eee-Oooo”. (Other books by the author are “Beer Mystic” and “Paris Sex Tête”. He’s now currently working on a yodel documentary). He found examples everywhere, especially from the second form, as a rewarding entertainment. He says “Yodel’s octave leap affects our souls and nervous systems in different ways to standard singing” which perhaps is the reason how even when yodelling comes completely out of any original context it can’t help but make someone joyful. The range of some languages compared to yodelling is then more like a depressed form of expression.
Bart surely must have had lots of pleasure and enjoyment when making this compilation. It is done like a perfect radioshow. Seemingly he also has 20 years of experience as a radio producer (in NY, Paris and now in Amsterdam).
It starts with a short introduction, where Cathy Fink teaches children a first lesson in yodelling technique. Also listed are various original cowboy country yodelling artists, like Janet McBride (Texas), or Mike Johnson (Nashville) with his truck driver country blues with yodelling and the quicker country yodeller, Kenny Roberts, who style was called the “galloping yodel”. There are also a few singer-songwriters who adapted the yodelling style, like Laura Love with a kind of funky Appalachian country with yodelling as well, and with certain singer-songwriter’s vision for old modernity, or Gillian Welch who performs an extremely slow interpretation of an almost immerged yodelling in her basically bluesy-Americana singer-songwriter style. On the right spots we have the examples with its traditions. Jodel Duo Rösy & Paul Hirschi sing a real herder song (in the local Swiss language -a language which still is not a written or official language-and yodelling-) as a personal yodel blues expression. At least one example gives reference to the very old language used in nature of where the yodelling originates from. It is the Baka yodel from Cameroon, which reflects singing originally meant for communicating with the forest Gods, in harmony with the environment an sounds of the animals, but sometimes also performed as pure amusement. Then we have the persons who know the traditions but used it deliberately for their own expressions of amusement. First of all there’s Francis Bebey, who is a Cameroon pigmy who sings an extremely funny satiric story about a woman leaving him, in simple English, and with funny electronic rhythms using some pygmy yodelling solely in a refrain as a musical context. Also satiric is Christine Lauterburg’s song° with some original mountain yodelling and her own interpretations mixed with other (differently traditional like Greek themes and more modern) rhythms. Yodelling voice Kutzkelina lend her abilities to the fluid clubhouse dub trance electro style of Alpendub vs -the man cable-. Also listed are very original style combination which are not too obvious but which are rewarding. One of the best yodel interpretations in another context is the original track by Carolina Cotton, accompanied by a 40’s styled Swing Band. A must track for parties. But there are more strange contexts. Very rewarding also are the Hawaiian yodellers called The Ho’opi’i Brothers with a Hawaiian cowboy song on ukulele. Also interesting is the Bollywood version of Kishore Kumar who performed yodelling mixed with an Indian flavour. A few interpreters are a bit "loners" in their reinventing of the yodelling, like Ed Sanders’s personal oddity, or Shelly Hirsch who formed her own personal ideas in singing after having listened to Swiss folk albums, with some echoes, feedback and keyboards. Two examples are a bit off the hook, but as a compilation a context I can understand (what they are doing there) although they have taken little from yodelling. Trio Los Camperos de Valles from Mexico sings typical for Mexican music falsettos which in this case fit ok with the yodelling nature, although I’m personally more reminded of flamenco mixed with some native Indian ideas. The Tibetan Sainkho Namtchylak is also listed. She sings in a combination of Tibetan traditional vocals with a repeated “iyeye” with more echo. One of her dubbed voices sounds like a turkey. In that way it is rather experimental for the voice based upon some traditions. The exhoed dubs reminds me more of Indian singers like Sheila Chandra. But the sense finds itself in the next track by Carolina Cotton, where the yodelling sounds very chicken-talk like.
A very rewarding compilation, which works very much like an introduction documentary radioshow. All tracks are interesting, several tracks are even essential.
° It is called "Alp's Traum" (= 'dream of the Alps' whicht also refers to the word Alptraum = 'nightmare')
