Austrian Yodelling Tradition Finds Echoes in a Graz Underground Car Park

For more than an hour, around 30 singers followed instructor Anna Maria Gutschi through the Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai underground car park in Graz, gradually making their way to its deepest level in search of the richest sound. The acoustics there proved particularly striking. Gutschi said the broad corridors and reflective walls produced echoes reminiscent of those found high in the mountains.

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The underground venue offers an unusual acoustic setting for a tradition closely associated with Graz’s alpine surroundings. Although the city is not perched high in the Alps, it lies in a broad, relatively flat basin surrounded by hills and low mountain ranges along its eastern edge.

No previous musical training was required for the course, which brought together beginners and experienced singers. The Styrian Folk Song Association has also held yodelling sessions in canals and petrol stations, using the distinctive acoustics of unexpected locations to introduce the tradition to new audiences.

Yodelling originated in Alpine communities, where herders and farmers used it to communicate across valleys and between mountain pastures. It later developed into a form of folk music and spread to choirs, festivals and music schools, while also finding a place in unconventional urban venues such as underground car parks.

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