The White Horse Inn – Selections

Decca F 2869

“The White Horse Inn Selections Part 1”
Orlando And His Orchestra
1932 (Decca F 2869 mx 4203br)
Orlando And His Orchestra – The White Horse Inn Selections Part 1]

” The White Horse Inn Selections Part 2″
Orlando And His Orchestra
1932 (Decca F 2869 mx 4205br)
Orlando And His Orchestra – The White Horse Inn Selections Part 2]

In my August 9th update I featured a vocal medley of selections from the Ralph Bernatzky/Robert Stolz operetta The White Horse Inn which was very popular in both Germany and Great Britain.   Here is an instrumental medley of songs from the same production led by British bandleader Joe Orlando.

I am not sure if the odd, high pitched “ya ha ha ha haaaa!” howl heard near the beginning of both sides was part of the original production.  I am not  even sure what the correct term would be to describe it.  It is a vocal effect that I have sometimes heard in recordings played on a ranchera music radio station I can pick up in the evenings out of Mexico.   A friend suggests that it is an example of yodeling – but it sounds different from what I have always thought of as yodeling and of the examples of yodeling I was able to find online.   Perhaps someone reading this knows what it is called and can share the information in the comments.

 

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6 Responses to The White Horse Inn – Selections

  1. Roseman says:

    I’ve too have heard this vocal utterance before and it seems to be mostly in polka music. It seems to be just a vocal declaration or yelp of how happy and joyful the music is.

    I don’t think it’s a part of any original lyrics to The White Horse Inn. If you notice it appears when the music switches to a seemily polka theme.

    Here’s an example of it being used in this YouTube selection. Note it at these time marks :57; 1:47, 1:56, 3:05.

  2. dismuke says:

    That YouTube video is fun. But many passages of it sound exactly like the sort of music I sometimes hear over the loudspeakers at an ethnic supermarket chain for Mexicans that I like to shop at. Kind of interesting how there is such an obvious strong German influence in certain types of traditional Mexican music.

  3. Roseman says:

    The similarity you noticed in the music may be explained by this Wikipedia article.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte%C3%B1o_(music)

    Here’s a short quote from it:

    During the late 19th century, German and Czech migrants to Northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest brought different styles among them: la redova, la varsoviana and the polka. These European immigrants fueled the demand for a local brewing industry, and they also influenced the music scene by bringing the accordion, waltz, and polka, which were part of the popular music of their homeland. Soon, local bands adopted these elements, and a new unique style gradually resulted from a blend with Mexican ranchera styles. This new style soon became a unique norteño genre, thus named because it was primarily popular in the northern regions of Mexico.

  4. MPJ says:

    Thinking about polka music, it’s my impression, which can certainly be wrong, that you hear a lot more “yipping” or “whooping” on Czech and other Slavic polkas etc. than on German. It would never have even occurred to me to think that there was a name for this — I’m with Roseman, that it’s just part of high spirits. I can think of one mainstream equivalent: in Yellow Submarine, when Ringo (?) yells “Yah haaaah” at one section change.

  5. karl says:

    The sound u talking about comes from the western part of Austria. Appearing in nearly every early folksong and is called “juchzen”, which means cheer / shout with joy

  6. Worldecho says:

    Thanks for posting this fine selection from a super show. By the way, this isn’t the band led by Joe Orlando here in the UK in the later 1930’s, Orlando is probably just a pseudonym on this record. From the matrix number it would appear to be a recording made in Germany by a German Dance Orchestra.

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