swedish cow-calling songs

February 14, 2007 10:06 PM

Kulning: "Kulning is an archaic style of singing/cattle call, traditionally employed outdoors in the grazing pastures of Scandinavia from the Middle Ages to this day. It consists of shepherdess's tunes, calls and tones of enticement, mainly used to keep contact with, and to call the cattle, but also to communicate with other people over long distances". Examples: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. (related MeFi post)
posted by dhruva (17 comments total)

Example 7 is from Tarkovsky's movie "The sacrifice".
posted by dhruva at 10:07 PM on February 14, 2007

It's haunting and beautiful.

I suppose the eefing post will inspire a number of other spin-offs, but this is cool in it's own right.
posted by serazin at 10:35 PM on February 14, 2007

Here's a related bit on Silbo, a whistle-based language used on the Canary Islands (by humans).

It did not get much previous
love in the blue.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:00 PM on February 14, 2007

brilliant & great!
posted by UbuRoivas at 11:05 PM on February 14, 2007

Fantastic.
posted by sklero at 11:16 PM on February 14, 2007

Cooee cobbers!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 11:23 PM on February 14, 2007

Some suggestions if you are interested in Nordic folk music singing: Lena Willemark, Gjallarhorn and Hedningarna.

Kulning is a great sound, but it has encountered the same kind of inflation in recent years as didgeridoo due to overuse by not-so-talented singers and bands.
posted by hoskala at 1:46 AM on February 15, 2007

Wow, fantastic! Thanks so much for this post! And here I thought I'd heard/knew about every sort of folk/traditional singing around the world.

Of course I didn't really think that, but, you know what I mean... Big thanks again for the post.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:20 AM on February 15, 2007

Sebastien: The whistling, it is interesting. I do somewhat the same for English, and have taught my partner to understand some of it. IIRC, I got the idea from a Tweety Bird cartoon :-))

This Kulning, it is nice on the ear. I bet the cows enjoy it.
posted by Goofyy at 5:32 AM on February 15, 2007

Awesome ringtone.
posted by bru at 5:38 AM on February 15, 2007

If you like this, you might quite like Christine Lauterburg.
posted by winna at 8:01 AM on February 15, 2007

Now I finally understand the Ricola commercials.
posted by vacapinta at 10:23 AM on February 15, 2007

Beautiful stuff! Thank you!
posted by LeeJay at 10:45 AM on February 15, 2007

might add a little more: my Latvian mother & grandmother have always used something vaguely like this as a way of calling people together for meals (farm / bush context). It might be halfway between Kulning & coo-eeing in sound, but I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow shared origins with the former, the Baltic states being just across the water from Sweden, and all.
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:24 PM on February 15, 2007

I could listen to this 'til the cows come home
posted by Abiezer at 2:12 AM on February 16, 2007

I could listen to this 'til the cows come home

Well, since they're likely to sing this stuff 'til the cows do in fact come home, that'd be the perfect arrangement for everybody! You, the singer, the cows, everybody!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:37 AM on February 16, 2007

Kulning sample used by Moby/Fatboy Slim in 5...4...3...2...
posted by schleppo at 10:24 AM on February 16, 2007