VA - The Rough Guide To Yodel (2006)

What is it about yodel that brings smiles and laughter? The memories of old films, mountain scenes and a hint of Alpine slapstick? Great fun (as this album shows), yodel is also a wonderful age-old art form that reverberates around the world. From its spiritual homes in the Alps and rural USA, yodel's influence can be found in any country; from Hawaii to Cameroon, and in any type of music; from techno to Bollywood. The Rough Guide To Yodel aims to squash the clichés and invites you to open your ears to the joy of yodel.

Yodeling is one of those styles about which many people have developed strong opinions while having heard relatively little of it. But with his fabulous track selections and engaging liner notes, compiler Bart Plantenga is more than equal to the task of opening ears and minds. Launching with an actual yodeling lesson from Cathy Fink, the album travels on to 17 ports of call, ranging from the western U.S. to the Swiss Alps, Africa, Mongolia, and Mexico. Somewhere amid all the excitement, the livestock gets called, Indian Bollywood musicals are further embellished (as if they needed it!), and the counter-claims of divorcing Cameroonian pygmies sorted out. And the personnel involved are far more varied than might be expected. Certainly, there are the usual Alpine field recordings, complete with chiming cowbells, but Alpendub Vs. the Man Cable's spooky, synth-and-beats-laden "Jaga Ode (Dubtronik)," hippie icon Ed Sanders's hilarious "Yodeling Robot," Gillian Welch's suitably enervated "Morphine," and Shelley Hirsch and David Weinstein's oddly church-like "Haiku Lingo" are bound to raise eyebrows as well as consciousnesses. Ultimately, although certain tracks will inevitably be hauled out strictly as parlor oddities, others will become firm favorites due to their startling beauty and/or delightful strangeness. ~Christina Roden