13 February 2004
ABC Treehouse

Amsterdam-based radio DJ, musicologist and author Bart Plantenga will read from his new book Yodel-Ay-Ee-Oooo: The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World, present some samples of world yodeling and will have special guest yodelers giving live performances.

The book which has so far been a big hit with hipsters – and widely praised by everything from the Washington Post and Vanity Fair to the BBC’s John Peel, traces the origins of yodelling from its Swiss Alpine roots. In a highly entertaning style, Platenga also details its use and development in American country music, the Nazi Youth, Bollywood and by pop stars such as Jewel, De La Soul and Sly & Family Stone, as well as exploring New Guinean and West African Pygmy yodeling. Plantenga is a fiction author of numerous published books and writes for countless music, pop and culture journals. He’s also behind the decks for his monthly slot on lAmsterdam’s pirate radio station Radio 100 with his programme Wreck This Mess. In Amsterdam, the book is available in Fort van Sjako and the American Book Center.