Proposed Documentary by bart plantenga
Drive-By Yodeling will portray the yodel as a kaleidoscopic, expansive, lively and contemporary global cultural phenomena. The yodel resonates far and wide / deep and shallow / from sublime to ridiculous / indigenous music to pop music. Yodeling’s mood swings are tremendous: from festive Bollywood to Oktoberfest lunacy, down to an almost monk-chant minimalism best exemplified by the melancholic natuurjodels of the Swiss.
Yodeling is [still] used by herders to communicate with their herds but also by contemporary singers like Gwen Stephani, R. Kelly and Jewel. The contrast between these extremes produces an inherent dynamic of incredulity and surprise, which will lend the documentary some of its drama.
Why: The yodel resonates across borders, is global, knows no genre prejudices – is as easily at home in opera as hiphop. And, although there are some fine yodel documentaries, they usually focus on one yodeler, style or region – usually Alpine. No one had ever done a global survey of yodeling before plantenga wrote Yodel-Ay-Ee-Ooooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World. No filmmaker had ever treated the yodel as a global phenomenon until Drive-By Yodeling. Purpose: Establish the colorful variety of yodeling; why, how it developed [musicological]; explore why yodelers yodel – fun, job, distinction, challenge, curiosity, camaraderie, tradition, nostalgia, communication; show yodeling via close ups/lessons [technical]; reveal the dialog between modern and traditional cultures with manufactured notions of culture, reassembled to create idealized identities.
What: 100-min. documentary portraying the protean global sound of yodeling. Gleeful and fascinating focus on the anomalous, serious, spiritual, carnal and commercial sides of yodeling. Paying respect to past yodel documentaries and documentary styles but it will be unlike anything that has come before. The film will reflect yodeling’s extensive character in its frenetic style and its contemplative depths with sudden insightful interview excerpts thus reflecting visually the nature of yodeling’s dramatic highs and lows.
Where: From Tuva to Tennessee, Heerlen to Hawaii, South Korea to South Africa to South Carolina. In kitchens, bingo halls, bars and and soft-core B-movie porn. Unlikely yodel locations to potentially visit: Mexico, France, Australia, UK, Italy, India, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Netherlands, Siberia, Georgia...
How: Fuse a variety of sources, formats and styles, creating an intricate montage-style film with lush textures that reflects the secret world of yodeling in its multifaceted, splintered splendor. Draw on fresh footage, concert footage, found footage, home movies, archival footage, stock footage to create a varied film that mirrors the many styles and lands the yodel traverses. Musicologically pure and deep, pop historical impure and gleeful. Some yodelers explore its physical-psychological significance, while others claim it simply makes them – and others – happy. From communicating with nature to communicating with a mass audience. The pacing undulates between frenetic-lively [quick sound bite edits, voiceover, text zippers, multi-images] and calm-contemplative moments [traditional documentary style], again echoing the dramatic audio highs and lows of the yodel’s vocal patterns and its adoption by both high and low culture.
Who: possible participants Taylor Ware [TV yodel sensation] Wanda Jackson [Queen of rockabilly] Christine Lauterberg [Swiss] Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger [France] Erika Stucky [Swiss-US] Serena Dankwa [Ghana-Swiss] Zihlmann Family [Swiss natuurjodelers] Nadia Räss [Swiss yodel teacher] Barbara Hannigan [Canadian opera soprano/Amsterdam] Kristina Fuchs [Swiss-NL] Shelley Hirsch [Jewish/NY] Kenny Roberts [living legend and link between country and rockabilly] Mike Johnson & McDonald Craig [Black country] Wylie Gustafson [real cowboy/Yahoo yodeler] the Vietnamese Hmong [Paris &/or Wisconsin] Amish/Mennonites [Indiana], Bruce Betler [yodeling monk US/CH] Zap Mama [Belgian/African] Dolores O’Riordan [Cranberries] Mary Schneider [international star, yodels the classics] Ho Lin [Taiwan pop star], Korean yodelers...
Background personages: Leon Thomas [dead jazz singer] Sly Stone [funk] Peter Hinnen [Swiss 60s jodel pop star] Focus (Hocus Pocus), Demetrio Stratos [Greece/Italy] Barrington Levy [Jamaica’s Blue Mountain yodeler] Gwen Stefani [biggest pop yodel hit in years] Taylor Wade [13 year old tv America's Got Talent star] Alfredo Guttierez [Venezuela] Pygmy [West Africa] Takeo Ischi [Japanes Alpine sensation]...
When: Now – focus is on the recent, the lively, the living, with references to history, legacy, the big names.
How Much: Low budget, DIY, low overhead, low administrative/bureaucratic/travel costs and a small crew: two co-directors and periodically some external assistants.
Background: bart plantenga is an author-radio dj and internationally renowned authority on yodeling; his books Yodel in HiFi and Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo was positively reviewed worldwide. His yodel compilation Rough Guide to Yodel was widely seen as the audio component of the book. Mark Boswell is an internationally renowned expert-lecturer on DIY agit-prop film. His films have been screened at the MoMA [NY], 10th Biennial of the Moving Image/ [Geneva], Avanto Film Festival [Helsinki], Transmediale [Berlin]; his awards include International Media Art Award [ZKM Museum Karlsruhe], Honorable Mention Transmediale among others...
Yodeling is [still] used by herders to communicate with their herds but also by contemporary singers like Gwen Stephani, R. Kelly and Jewel. The contrast between these extremes produces an inherent dynamic of incredulity and surprise, which will lend the documentary some of its drama.
Why: The yodel resonates across borders, is global, knows no genre prejudices – is as easily at home in opera as hiphop. And, although there are some fine yodel documentaries, they usually focus on one yodeler, style or region – usually Alpine. No one had ever done a global survey of yodeling before plantenga wrote Yodel-Ay-Ee-Ooooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World. No filmmaker had ever treated the yodel as a global phenomenon until Drive-By Yodeling. Purpose: Establish the colorful variety of yodeling; why, how it developed [musicological]; explore why yodelers yodel – fun, job, distinction, challenge, curiosity, camaraderie, tradition, nostalgia, communication; show yodeling via close ups/lessons [technical]; reveal the dialog between modern and traditional cultures with manufactured notions of culture, reassembled to create idealized identities.
What: 100-min. documentary portraying the protean global sound of yodeling. Gleeful and fascinating focus on the anomalous, serious, spiritual, carnal and commercial sides of yodeling. Paying respect to past yodel documentaries and documentary styles but it will be unlike anything that has come before. The film will reflect yodeling’s extensive character in its frenetic style and its contemplative depths with sudden insightful interview excerpts thus reflecting visually the nature of yodeling’s dramatic highs and lows.
Where: From Tuva to Tennessee, Heerlen to Hawaii, South Korea to South Africa to South Carolina. In kitchens, bingo halls, bars and and soft-core B-movie porn. Unlikely yodel locations to potentially visit: Mexico, France, Australia, UK, Italy, India, Solomon Islands, Taiwan, Netherlands, Siberia, Georgia...
How: Fuse a variety of sources, formats and styles, creating an intricate montage-style film with lush textures that reflects the secret world of yodeling in its multifaceted, splintered splendor. Draw on fresh footage, concert footage, found footage, home movies, archival footage, stock footage to create a varied film that mirrors the many styles and lands the yodel traverses. Musicologically pure and deep, pop historical impure and gleeful. Some yodelers explore its physical-psychological significance, while others claim it simply makes them – and others – happy. From communicating with nature to communicating with a mass audience. The pacing undulates between frenetic-lively [quick sound bite edits, voiceover, text zippers, multi-images] and calm-contemplative moments [traditional documentary style], again echoing the dramatic audio highs and lows of the yodel’s vocal patterns and its adoption by both high and low culture.
Who: possible participants Taylor Ware [TV yodel sensation] Wanda Jackson [Queen of rockabilly] Christine Lauterberg [Swiss] Mysterious Asthmatic Avenger [France] Erika Stucky [Swiss-US] Serena Dankwa [Ghana-Swiss] Zihlmann Family [Swiss natuurjodelers] Nadia Räss [Swiss yodel teacher] Barbara Hannigan [Canadian opera soprano/Amsterdam] Kristina Fuchs [Swiss-NL] Shelley Hirsch [Jewish/NY] Kenny Roberts [living legend and link between country and rockabilly] Mike Johnson & McDonald Craig [Black country] Wylie Gustafson [real cowboy/Yahoo yodeler] the Vietnamese Hmong [Paris &/or Wisconsin] Amish/Mennonites [Indiana], Bruce Betler [yodeling monk US/CH] Zap Mama [Belgian/African] Dolores O’Riordan [Cranberries] Mary Schneider [international star, yodels the classics] Ho Lin [Taiwan pop star], Korean yodelers...
Background personages: Leon Thomas [dead jazz singer] Sly Stone [funk] Peter Hinnen [Swiss 60s jodel pop star] Focus (Hocus Pocus), Demetrio Stratos [Greece/Italy] Barrington Levy [Jamaica’s Blue Mountain yodeler] Gwen Stefani [biggest pop yodel hit in years] Taylor Wade [13 year old tv America's Got Talent star] Alfredo Guttierez [Venezuela] Pygmy [West Africa] Takeo Ischi [Japanes Alpine sensation]...
When: Now – focus is on the recent, the lively, the living, with references to history, legacy, the big names.
How Much: Low budget, DIY, low overhead, low administrative/bureaucratic/travel costs and a small crew: two co-directors and periodically some external assistants.
Background: bart plantenga is an author-radio dj and internationally renowned authority on yodeling; his books Yodel in HiFi and Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo was positively reviewed worldwide. His yodel compilation Rough Guide to Yodel was widely seen as the audio component of the book. Mark Boswell is an internationally renowned expert-lecturer on DIY agit-prop film. His films have been screened at the MoMA [NY], 10th Biennial of the Moving Image/ [Geneva], Avanto Film Festival [Helsinki], Transmediale [Berlin]; his awards include International Media Art Award [ZKM Museum Karlsruhe], Honorable Mention Transmediale among others...