The Rough Guide to Everywhere

The art of cow-calling

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Episode notes

When you think of Swedish traditions, maybe what comes to mind is fika, lagom or Midsummer’s Day celebrations. But there’s another, quite unique tradition that you may not have heard of before: kulning, otherwise known as cow-calling. In this episode, we find out exactly what kulning is, the social impact that it has had on the country and how what started as a local way of life in the Middle Ages has woven itself into modern music and life today. By preserving subcultures like kulning, we gain a real insight into how traditions are formed and how they develop over time. We discover so much about a particular place’s history, and from that, what is important to its people and why. This episode was hosted by Aimee White (@aimeefw) and produced by Femi Oriogun-Williams for Reduced Listening (reducedlistening.co.uk).