National yodelling festival cancelled

The Swiss National Yodelling Festival, scheduled for June, will not take place due to the coronavirus pandemic. It had already been postponed by a year.

Until recently the organisers thought the vaccination strategy as set out by the government would work and that a large part of the population would be vaccinated against the virus by the end of June, when the festival was due to take place in Basel.

“Unfortunately, we cannot count on the situation easing by June, in order for the festival to take place under favourable conditions,” said Carlo Conti, president of the organising committee, in a statement on Friday.

Around 150,000 visitors were expected at the event on June 25-27, which was originally postponed from June 2020.

It was not possible to postpone again, the organisers said, so the next festival is due to take place, as planned, in Zug in 2023.

The previous festival, which normally takes place every three years and celebrates this Alpine voice tradition, was in Brig, canton Valais, in 2017.