From Fred Weyerman
Jennifer Ouelette suggests that Marco Polo introduced yodelling to Europe from Tibet (22/29 December 2007, p 58). But in the 1959 movie Thunder in the Sun a group of Basques from the French Pyrenees make their way to California in the 19th century. The film showed the peculiar traditions of the Basques – a people reputed to have inhabited Europe before the Celts. Among these was their long-distance communication through a form of yodelling, including a remarkable, unearthly sounding war cry when they clashed with others.
The Basques’ long isolation and cultural uniqueness – their language, Euskara, is non-Indo-European, for example – suggests their custom of yodelling long preceded Marco Polo’s time.
Perhaps some food for thought for “yodellology” research?
Frankston, Victoria, Australia
