27th Annual Yodeling Championships

Had a wonderful day in the village of Haiffaisen, Canton of Friborg, which is about a 2 hour drive from our apartment.  We attended the Festival of the 27^th District Yodeling Championships.  And also in rounds of competition were Alp Horns and ‘Lancers’..  those that have routines to music with flags on poles.

The yodeling was fantastic.  It seems that yodeling in the mountains was a way to communicate with the next village, and also was a way of telling the history of the village through songs.  Yodeling Clubs from around the SW corner of Switzerland all had a group in the competition, around 168 clubs in all.  The competition was held in 4 different areas, and in rounds.  We sat in a church and listened to one of the rounds.

A Yodel is somewhere between singing and ‘making’ a noise, by vibrating sound bouncing up and down between the top of your mouth and the start of your chest.  All songs started with a chorus and then broke into a yodel, then chorus, then yodel, etc.  Some groups sort of mimicked the ‘yodel’ by singing it…  but when a group or a person really ‘yodeled’, my God you knew it.  It is a very different sound.  One club was represented by one man who ‘yodeled’ his way through a song and brought the house down…  a most unusual noise vibrating between high and low.  When he hit the high notes…  you knew if he was standing in the mountains, it would reverberate all over the place.  Peter and I thought he must have been castrated…  otherwise how could he do those incredibly higher notes.  But he was wonderful and had a standing ovaction.  He had the ‘true’ yodel and we had a great education as to what yodeling was all about!