Yodelling tradition finds unique echo in Graz underground car park
In Graz, Austria, yodelling singers led by Anna Maria Gutschi use an underground car park to explore unique acoustics reminiscent of Alpine echoes, adapting the traditional Alpine communication practice to an urban environment. This initiative by the Styrian Folk Song Association introduces yodelling to new audiences in unconventional venues.
Brève Publié le (Africa/Lagos, UTC+1)
Yodelling tradition in Graz, Austria, has found a novel venue underground in the city’s Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai car park, where around 30 singers followed teacher Anna Maria Gutschi to discover the richest sound in its deepest section.
The underground space’s broad corridors and reflective walls create echoes similar to those high in the mountains, providing an unusual solution to Graz’s geography, which is a flat basin surrounded by hills rather than high Alpine peaks.
The Styrian Folk Song Association, which organized the session, has also used other unconventional urban locations like canals and petrol stations to showcase yodelling’s distinctive acoustics and introduce the Alpine-rooted tradition to new audiences.
Originating as a communication method among herders and farmers in Alpine valleys, yodelling has evolved into folk music performed in choirs, festivals, and music schools, now also adapting to urban settings such as underground car parks.