The first Swiss yodelling club for gays

The dedicated yodeller Franz Markus Stadelmann is openly gay, which is unusual in this scene. SRF-SWI

A long-cherished dream of conductor and singer Franz Markus Stadelmann becomes reality: Switzerland's first "gay yodelling club".

The idea of a yodelling club with gay men had been buzzing around in Franz Markus Stadelmann’s head for some time. Whenever he was travelling with his boyfriend, they pondered the project. When they were able to get three more friends interested last autumn, their enthusiasm was unstoppable.

Stadelmann is well known in the yodelling scene. He has made a name for himself as a singer, conductor and jury chairman. He conducts various yodelling choirs, including the “Jodelchörli Heimelig” for over 20 years. He has also released various recordings as a singer.

Now he is founding the “Jodlerklub Männertreu”. “We felt the need to turn a marginalised group into something like this,” he said to Swiss public television, SRFExternal link. Stadelann will also conduct the yodelling club.

Fringe group in the yodelling world

The yodelling scene tends to be conservative. The response to the gay yodelling club is correspondingly great. “It’s crazy when you consider that there are other yodelling clubs that have been around for 100 years and that this is of much less interest,” says Stadelmann.

The conductor’s main aim with this project is for the gay men to be able to sing among themselves for once. All men are welcome in the club – regardless of whether they are gay or not. “But if someone is bisexual, they won’t want to join us because they’ll be coming out as gay,” says Stadelmann.

He himself has long been open about his sexual preference. However, he knows that it takes a lot of courage to come out. Especially if you’ve already started a family and have children, for example.

Big plans for the future

After the five founders diligently advertised their newly founded yodelling club, a number of registrations have now been received from German-speaking Switzerland.

Their aim is to reach at least 20 members. The initiators have come up with something to draw attention to the new gay yodelling club. They have also had a beer mat labelled:

Membership recruitment for the “gay yodelling club” on a coaster. SRF-SWI

You don’t have to be able to yodel to join. “In a yodelling club, ‘only’ two or three singers yodel. Everyone else sings, just like in other choirs,” explains Stadelmann.

A rehearsal will now take place every month. As with other yodelling clubs, the conductor wants to develop a traditional repertoire of songs. “It’s not about making a statement with an index finger in the sense of ‘we gays have to stand up for ourselves and are allowed to yodel’,” he says.

And so Stadelmann is already dreaming of being able to take part in a federal yodelling festival with the “Jodlerklub Männertrau”.

Translated by DeepL/amva