Swiss yodeling, originally a way for voice communication of herders to carry across hills and valleys, has been added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Try yodeling that title!
In Switzerland, yodeling has moved far beyond its simple origins, as the culture ministry explained “As a characteristic vocal technique, yodeling alternates between chest and head voice anuses meaningless syllables that are often associated with local dialects.”
The Swiss culture ministry’s advisor on the UNESCO application, told press that “yodeling as we know it today was codified in the 19th and 20th centuries, with ‘cross-influences’ from southern Germany, and the Tyrolean mountains of Austria and Italy.’ It has traveled abroad, become part of other countries’ music, and absorbed other influences.
More than 12,000 yodellers are members of one of the 711 groups of the country’s Federal Yodeling Association, and the Lausanne University of Arts and Applied Sciences offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in yodeling.
