Today is the Annual Beckenried Jodlerkonzert in die Kirche (The Church). It's a fusion of Jodling and BlueGrass music.. sounds very interesting. From the little I know of Jodling (discounting the exposure to Kishore Kumar's yodelling in my early years), I cannot imagine how the two would blend-in.. I try to put my most creative cap on. What the.. why can't i just be patient & wait a few more hours! I see no reason to tax my grey cells anymore.

We're having yet another snowy day today. It's already 4:30PM. The Konzert begins @ 5PM. Even though die Kirche is only 1 KM away, we're lazy today and decide to drive... a few minutes later we arrive to find all parking spots taken. Apparently everyone else had the same idea.. We drive a li'l further to take a U-turn and start heading back.. Aha.. a tourist car from Germany pulls out of a prime spot in front of the Ship-station. Thanking our lucky stars (which help us remain lazy), we walk up to the entrance and find a lot of folks crowding the Koffee & Lebkuchen(cake) stand. I wonder why they couldn't wait for the Konzert to end before diving into the goodies. My question is answered as soon as we step in.

Die Kirche is packed. Down jackets & scarves of all colors can be seen on the benches overflowing with people. There's about 50 of us standing behind the last row.. Didn't know there were so many residents in Beckenried! My guess is that the band "Maple Tree Circus" is pretty famous or could it be the Jodlers?? We wonder if we should stay.. the Koffee and Cake suddenly seem very tempting

A man walks in with chairs and start lining the aisle with a single row of chairs - inviting the standing audience to sit. But of course, we all play the Good Samaritans.. what better place to be polite than at the Church?? Especially when Christmas is round the Corner. Who wouldn't want to be in Santa's Good Books??  We offer the chairs to the couple behind us. The lady says.. Naa.. Naa.. we don't want it. One can tell one's Old, when others start offering seats

The konzert starts with the organisers thanking the audience & the patrons for braving the weather and introducing the programme. I understand bits & pieces of the speeches in Swiss-German. Suddenly all the kids get up from the first row & start marching up the stage.. hmmm... it appears we're beginning with the kids konzert. Some more words & then i see the folks standing around us start to walk up. Lukas explains that the kid-performers have been called backstage to vacate some more seats for the standing audience. Oh -- how cool.. from standing way back to sitting in the First Row!! Today is turning out to be a really lucky day!!

The Beckenried Jodler group takes the stage. It comprises of about a dozen men and two women. Ofcourse the two women are the centre of the stage. They're all dressed in their traditional cantonal finery. For those of us unaware: Jodelling or wordless calls were originally sung by farmers and shepherds to communicate messages across deep valleys. The choir singing of the yodeling songs only developed in the 19th century. I'm amazed at the range and the frequent changes of pitch that these Jodlers can achieve!! It's quite a treat to be this up close & personal to view their neck chords & facial expressions. One of the Jodlers with large eyes and a big white moustache catches my eye.. He's like a mischievous elf - peeping from the back row, rolling his eyes, looking around with that impish glint in his eye.. The rest seem to be the typical Stoic Swiss - taking their singing very seriously. 

Next up is the Maple Tree Circus Band. The boys from Luzern like typical BlueGrass bands are performing with their string instruments: Banjo, Fiddle (violin), Guitar, The Double-Bass & ahem the vocals.

They sing American Folk music peppered with Swiss traditional voices... The audience cheers them on. 

Soon the children take the stage. Dressed traditionally alike yet they bring their individuality to the stage: Charmingly innocent, Happy, curious eyes, toothless smiles, wide grins, what-am-i-doing-here looks, Shy-bowed heads and cool pony-tails. Though i don't understand a word, i enjoy it with my heart & soul. The children bring life to the Jodler group as well. When the crowds roared with laughter, I really wished i could understand the language.. but then perhaps my mind would be busy understanding the meaning of the song & not be there to observe the children.

The Jodlers and the MTC band take the stage for the final piece.. I must admit it's a nice fusion.. American folk music and the art of Jodling!