German beer-hall yodel goes to court in Munich

Dispute over royalties for horlla-rü-di-ri refrain brings victory for composer's heirs
Yodeling involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch
Yodelling involves singing an extended note which rapidly and repeatedly changes in pitch. Here, some Swiss practitioners . . . Photograph: Sarah B. Tews/AP

To the uninitiated it sounds rather like a cry for help from an Alpine goatherd who has trapped his hand in a barn door.

In the world of German folk music, however, it amounts to one of the most popular and lucrative refrains in the yodelling repertoire.

The money-spinning power of "horlla-rü-di-ri, di-ri, di-ri", the famous chorus of the Kufsteinlied, which is capable of making even the hardiest of lederhosen-clad Germans go weak at the knees, has been keenly felt this week in a Munich courtroom battle over who owns the copyright.

The heirs of Karl Ganzer, the Austrian composer of the 63-year-old beer-hall hit which is said to be Europe's most-played folk song, were yesterday successful in their attempts to sue the music publisher Egon Frauenberger, who claimed he had written the song's refrain and therefore had a right to a twelfth of the royalties.

The song is a staple of beer festival gatherings such as Munich's Oktoberfest as well as folk music shows which, because of their enduring popularity, are a mainstay of primetime television across the German-speaking world.

Royalties must be paid each time the song is performed in public.

Frauenberger admitted to the court that Ganzer, who died in 1988, wrote the song, but said that he made major changes to it in the 1960s which gave it its upbeat, Alpine flavour and turned it into a hit.

Yodelling is an ancient tradition, said to date back to the stone age. Extended notes and repeated pitch changes allow sound to travel further and enabled men to communicate with each other between mountain peaks.