Switzerland
Echoes of Home
Review by John Packman.
For most of us, when we think of yodeling (full disclosure: I usually don't), the images that immediately spring to mind are pure kitsch: The Sound of Music, those Ricola cough drop ads, and that game on The Price Is Right where the little guy goes up the mountain. Stefan Schwietert's excellent documentary Echoes of Home completely obliterated these associations for me. The film is a revelation; it positions the art of yodeling within a rich cultural and historical framework in which its practitioners view it as an essential component of life. Echoes follows three talented adherents of this vocal style (Arnold Nolder, Erika Stucky, Christian Zehnder) as each interprets it through a different stylistic and performative lens. Zehnder in particular proves to be a fascinating character study; his articulate philosophical ruminations on the form and his impassioned, highly experimental performances lend the music an almost mystical heft.
The music is sublime throughout, from Nolder's clever deconstruction of traditonal yodeling to Stucky's theatrical and dischordant story-songs to Zehnder's frenetic collision of the form with beatboxing, scat jazz and what sounds like primal scream therapy. The remarkable amount of variance and beauty displayed in the form is mirrored in the film's equally stunning visuals; images of the majestic Swiss landscape are juxtaposed with moody industrial interiors and Mongolian plains. Schwietert shows an assured control of these disparate elements, and he ultimately manages to create a cohesive portrait of a severely misunderstood art form. Before the curtain came up, I thought yodeling was a punchline; by the time the credits rolled, it looked like something closer to religion.
Echoes of Home
Stefan Schweietert | Switzerland | 2007 | 81min
Thur. Sept. 27 | 7:30pm | VanCity Theatre
Sun. Sept. 30 | 7:15pm | Empire Granville Theatre
Thu. Oct. 4 | 4:30pm | Pacific Cinematheque