The distinctive yodelling calls, which have echoed through the Alps for centuries and more recently found their way into popular song and folk music, could soon receive international recognition from Paris.
Switzerland's government is seeking to have the tradition of yodelling included on UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage, with a decision anticipated by the end of the year.
Modern proponents of yodelling stress that it has evolved far beyond the traditional image of falsetto-bellowing male herders intoning alongside giant Alphorns on verdant hillsides.
It is now celebrated as a popular and versatile form of singing. Over the past century, yodelling clubs have flourished across Switzerland, broadening its appeal and integrating its unique tones, techniques, and tremolos into the international musical lexicon, spanning classical, jazz, and folk genres.
Notably, US country crooners prominently incorporated yodels into their songs during the late 1920s and 30s.
The academic world has also embraced the art form, with the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) becoming the first Swiss university to offer yodelling instruction approximately seven years ago.
HSLU professor Nadja Räss eloquently describes its profound cultural significance: "For me, actually, in Switzerland we have four languages but I think really we have five languages. We have a fifth: The yodel."
While yodelling exists in neighbouring Austria, Germany, and Italy, Mrs Räss highlights that Swiss yodelling is distinguished by its unique vocal technique.
In its early days, yodelling involved chants of wordless vowel sounds, or “natural yodeling,” with melodies but no lyrics. More recently, “yodelling song” has included verses and a refrain.
The Swiss government says at least 12,000 yodellers take part through about 780 groups of the Swiss Yodelling Association.
In Switzerland, Mrs Räss said, yodelling is built on the “sound colors of the voice” and features two types: one centering on the head — with a “u” sound — and one emanating from deeper down in the chest — with an “o” sound.
And even within Switzerland, styles vary: yodelling in the northern region near Appenzell is more “melancholic, slower,” while in the country's central regions, the sounds are “more intense and shorter,” she said.
What began as mostly a male activity is now drawing more and more women in a country that only finalized the right to vote for all women in the 1980s — long after most of its European neighbors.
Julien Vuilleumier, a scientific adviser for the Federal Office of Culture who is spearheading the Swiss request, said it's tough to trace the origins of yodelling, which factors into the imagery of the Swiss Alps.
“Some say it's a means of communication between valleys, using these very distinctive sounds that can carry a long way. Others believe it's a form of singing," he said. "What we know is that ... yodelling has always been transformed and updated.”
UNESCO's government-level committee for Intangible Heritage in New Delhi will decide in mid-December. The classification aims to raise public awareness of arts, craftsmanship, rituals, knowledge and traditions that are passed down over generations.
Also among the 68 total nominations this year are traditions like Thanakha face powder in Myanmar; Ghanaian highlife music; the fermented Kyrgyz beverage Maksym; and the El Joropo music and dance tradition in Venezuela.
The list is different from the UNESCO World Heritage List, which enshrines protections for physical sites that are considered important to humanity, like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.
Last year, Japan's famed sake — the smooth rice wine — was one of more than 60 honorees in the intangible heritage list, alongside things like the Nowruz spring festival in parts of central Asia, and the skills and knowledge of zinc roofers in Paris.
Räss of the Lucerne university says that candidates for the intangible heritage list are asked to specify the future prospects of cultural traditions.
“We figured out some projects to bring it to the future. And one of those is that we bring the yodel to the primary school,” said Mrs Räss, who herself grew up yodelling. She said 20 Swiss school teachers know how to yodel and are trying it with their classes.
"One of my life goals is that when I will die, in Switzerland every school child will be in contact with yodelling during their primary school time,” she said. “I think it’s a very good chance for the future of the yodel to be on that (UNESCO) list.”
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