Echo vom Eierstock is opening up the overwhelmingly male Alpine folk music scene with new versions of lyrics about nagging wives and naive girlsElena Kaiser just wanted to yodel, and living in central Switzerland, that didn’t seem too much to ask for. “But as a woman you couldn’t yodel in a choir unless you were already a professional; there were simply no options,” she says. There were also the words to the songs, portraying an idyllic Alpine life surrounded by pristine nature and overseen by a benevolent God, the men in charge and the women presented either as naive girls, self-sacrificing mothers or nagging wives. Kaiser couldn’t get past them: “The beautiful melodies with these completely outdated lyrics.”So, in 2022, she founded Switzerland’s first feminist yodelling choir, and Echo vom Eierstock (“echo from the ovary”) has been rewriting traditional yodelling songs and dragging the Alpine folk music scene into the 21st century ever since. Continue reading...
Elena Kaiser founded Switzerland's first feminist yodeling choir, Echo vom Eierstock, in 2022 to challenge the male-dominated traditional yodeling scene and its conservative portrayals of women. The choir rewrites traditional songs with feminist lyrics, offering an inclusive space for women of diverse backgrounds to yodel. This shift is part of a broader change in Swiss yodeling, including the formation of a gay men's yodeling choir and the academic study of yodeling.
