Yodelling festival in full voice despite record temperatures

(30 Jun 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: COMMERCIAL MUSIC, MUSIC VIDEO AND/OR PERFORMANCES MUST BE CLEARED ACCORDING TO YOUR OWN LOCAL MUSIC PERFORMANCE AND COPYRIGHT AGREEMENTS WITH YOUR APPLICABLE COLLECTING SOCIETY ASSOCIATED PRESS Basel, Switzerland - 27 June 2026 1. Two performers from Jodlerclub Echo Basel, Freddie Byars and Freddie Conquer, attempt to sing together and get it wrong 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Freddie Conquer, yodelling competitor from New Zealand: “I’ve always loved music, and I left here as a child, and when I moved back to New Zealand I wanted to stay in touch with Swiss culture, so I joined a New Zealand-Swiss-Kiwi yodelling club.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Basel, Switzerland - 28 June 2026 3. Various of yodelling club sitting in fountain and singing ASSOCIATED PRESS Basel, Switzerland - 27 June 2026 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Shona Holmes, yodelling competitor: “Well, I'm singing with the Jodlerclub Echo Basel, and we are one of the Trägervereine, so ‘hosting clubs’, of the Eidgenössische Jodlerfest, or the Federal Yodel Fest 2026 in Basel. And as part of that, we are here at the Martinskirche tonight and we've just sang our Wettlied, our competition song. And at the end of the weekend we will find out what grade, essentially, we got for our song which goes on a scale of one to four where one is the best.” ASSOCIATED PRESS Basel, Switzerland - 28 June 2026 5. Pan of crowd cheering as Jodlerklub Muttenz go by 6. Alpine horn players parading ASSOCIATED PRESS Basel, Switzerland - 27 June 2026 7. Holmes and her club singing their competition song "Weisch wie guet" composed by Emil Wallimann, with text by Brigitte Debrunner 8. High angle view of yodellers singing in a bar 9. Various of impromptu yodelling outbreak in old town restaurant STORYLINE: Switzerland's national yodelling festival does not stop for a heatwave. It just moves closer to the fountains. Singers need to keep hydrated, and these yodellers have found their own solution to 38-degree heat. And why not practice while you’re bathing? It’s a familiar story all over the city. Its 45 fountains are full of yodellers, which is not something you can say every day. The water is cool. The harmonies are optional. A folk band plays as festival-goers clap along or cool their hands under a fountain faucet. These guys are locals, happy to sit and bathe for the hottest part of the day. Basel was breaking temperature records for the third day running: 39 degrees Celsius at the Basel-Binningen weather station on Saturday afternoon, according to MeteoSwiss, the third consecutive all-time June record in as many days. Basel is hosting the Eidgenössisches Jodlerfest, Switzerland's national yodelling festival, for the first time since 1924. Almost 200,000 visitors came over the weekend, with 12,000 performers competing across three disciplines: yodelling, alphorn and flag-throwing. The competition itself takes place in the city's churches, concert halls and school venues. Outside the Martinskirche, competitors from the Jodlerclub Echo Basel wait in the heat for their turn. Inside, a sizeable audience applauds as the performers take their positions. Shona Holmes is one of the club's singers, and she explains how the competition works. The club performs their competition piece, entitled "Weisch wie guet," composed by Emil Wallimann with text by Brigitte Debrunner. Two of the club's members, both named Freddie, one from England and one from New Zealand, pair up to sing. Back in Petersplatz, the main festival stage, the plaza is packed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...