Tibet is in Africa?

Who knew?

Nonetheless, while “the Swiss think they invented yodeling,” according to Christensen, he has traced its roots back to Africa.

Apparently Tibetan monks first used a form of yodeling to communicate. Marco Polo brought that knowledge back with him to Western Europe, where it quickly became part of the alpine tradition. The American cowboy yodeling tradition — yippee-kay-yay, y’all! — came about because European immigrants brought the vocal style with them to the range. The cowboy yodeling patterns aren’t as varied as the European traditions. They tend to be slower and simpler, since they were primarily lullabies to calm the cows at night, and also to soothe the animals during milking.

The article is interesting, but I was distracted by the geography lesson.

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