Kulning in Dalhalla
                              ...was the Nordic version of yodeling, though it was more like singing in the forest.
           Recorded to capture the acoustics of an abandoned quarry in Dalarna Sweden (Dalhalla), this CD represents both voice and horn renditions of the music from the fäbod/säter...the mountain pasture.
Like Anna-Stina and the other herdswomen in G.R. Revelle's Vallkulla books, the herding women used their voices and as well as primitive instruments like cow and goat horns to communicate with their animals.  Finger holes were  bored at specific places along the surface of the horn to control the note the horn would play at when the player's fingers covered certain holes.  Specific commands were issued to companions and animals alike...just down the path or across the mountain valley, to other fäbodar/sätre  (mountain pastures) where other herdswomen easily heard and understood the sounds.

Individual herding tasks called for individual tunes and voice cadences; the young women and her animals learned to distinguish the calls at a very early age.  "I am in trouble...my cow is lost...there is a bear in our hut...," each sound had a specific meaning.  Some songs were sung simply for the pleasure of the singer and the listener, even if it was only the troll, vitra or others, silently watching in the forest.




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