Ton Maas | August 2009 issue
Swiss yodeling wasn’t invented to amuse others, but as European filmmaker Stefan Schwietert’s documentary Echoes of Home (Heimatklange)
shows, this distinctive form of singing does have its funny side. Yodeler and voice artist Erika Stucky explores and exploits the humorous aspects so well that her audiences are regularly brought to tears. In the film, her 9-year-old daughter confesses, “I’m always embarrassed when my mother performs on stage. Fortunately, she does most of her singing abroad.”
Echoes of Home not only deals with the origins and tradition of yodeling, but portrays Stucky and two other artists who have ventured into new forms. Christian Zehnder, half of the duo Stimmhorn, does so by seeking spiritual depths—he even practices healing with the sound of his voice—and forging links with Tuvan overtone singing. At least as interesting is the portrait of Noldi Alder, scion of a noble family of yodelers from Appenzell, Switzerland. The family ensemble of Alderbuebe was founded in 1884 and has traveled the world with the traditional music of its homeland, performing in native dress. In the film, Noldi’s brothers and father complain about his shameless mixing of tradition with squeaking sounds and arpeggios from his violin. But it’s obvious they also secretly admire him for revitalizing the ancient art of yodeling.
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