Yodelling is an intriguing element of music, where the singer
changes his pitch, going from low to high and back very fast. My first exposure
to this fun sound was in the song, “The lonely Goatherd” from The Sound of
Music. The yodel did originate in the Alps, as a means for shepherds and
farmers calling to identify themselves and each other.
Closer home, the consummate singer Kishore Kumar was well
known for his musical antics, and the skilful way he melded the yodel into
many songs. These songs went on to become iconic numbers not only in their own
time but also today, well into the twenty-first century.
Songs like “Main hoon Jhumroo” (Jhumroo), “Panch rupaiya
barah anna” (Chalti ka naam gaadi), “Zindagi ek safar hai suhana” (Andaz), “Good
Morning good morning”(Bawarchi) and “Tum bin Jaaoon kahaan” (Pyar ka mausam)
spring to mind immediately. The talent of Kishore Kumar’s yodelling lies in the
way it blended in so seamlessly with characteristically Indian sounds. The
eccentric genius made this intrinsically foreign sound his own.
Yodel-ay-EEE-ooo!
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