VIFF Review: Echoes of Home

Echoes of Home
September 27 2007, 7:30pm
Vancity Theatre

Like most people, when I think of Switzerland I think of fine mechanical watches, trains that run on time, delicious chocolate, and great skiing. Swiss musical traditions do not normally enter the popular consciousness. The only yodelling is the stereotypically cheesy "yodellayeehoo" of Heidi movies and Swiss Miss commercials. This documentary reveals the rich tradition and expressiveness of yodelling.

In the scenic Alps the yodel is a practical means of communication as it easily travels across the valley and reverberates off the mountainsides. From this practical start it has entered into the musical tradition of the Alpine communities.

Christian Zehlder is a young musician whose search for his own identity leads him to the most traditional of Swiss folk music. His musical journey takes him to Central Asia where he sings with the Tuvan throat singing group Huun-Huur-Tu. There is a remarkable similarity of sound between the European mountains and the Asian steppes.

Erika Stucky's childhood in "Summer of Love"-era San Francisco and a small village in the Swiss Alps give her a unique singing style and personality. Her pre-teen daughter is sometimes embarrassed by mom's quirky fashion sense, and uninhibited style.

Noldi Alder is part of a musical family steeped in generations of farming and music making in the Alps. After making traditional music with his brothers for years, he now stretches the possibilities of yodelling and Swiss folk music. This does not appeal to his elderly father who as the family patriarch has strong opinions on the immutability of traditional music.

The celebratory, folk dance-oriented yodel is augmented by a more melancholy sound, with interesting harmonies, dissonance, and overtones. Its languid tempo is at times contrasted with sharp, guttural, and animalistic sounds. The importance of reverberation is emphasized. Performances are in reverberant spaces like a church, an abandoned factory, or on a mountain top where the singer's vocalizations are amplified and modulated by the echoes.

All three musicians rediscover and reinvent the yodelling tradition from their own unique life experiences. They create a rich, nuanced, and haunting sound that echoes across the alpine meadow and though your brain.