Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World
Wait a minute. Yodeling spans the globe? Not only Alpine sheepherders and American cowboys do it (or, if they're gentlemen, don't)? Guess its historyissecret, even if its performance never could be. Plantenga, a novelist and DJ rather than an academic, starts his survey, predictably, in Switzerland and Alpine Germany and Austria, but then proceeds to (often) lower elevations: the Low Countries, Central Europe, the Balkans, Scandinavia, and Italy; then India, Hawaii and the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand (figures: they got cowboys, too); then Africa and Latin America--all before getting to Anglo North America. For each place, he describes the kind of yodeling done there and, in generous sidebars, notes great practitioners, especially those who have been recorded. The last two chapters are concerned with yodeling's crossover into funk, rap, and techno. Who'da thunk? Plantenga's presentation is rather scrappy, sometimes reading like downloaded, spell-checked research notes, but his fascination with yodeling is contagious, making this a honey of a folk-and-pop-fans' browse.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved