Vuelie

"Vuelie" is the opening musical number to Frozen written by Norwegian musician Frode Fjellheim and composed by Canadian score composer, Christophe Beck, with additional vocals by the Norwegian female choir Cantus.

The track plays during the film's opening sequence, beginning with the appearance of the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo, continuing during a sequence of snowflakes, and ending with the appearance of the title card.

The song's full name is derived from Fjellheim's original "Eatnamen Vuelie". The original piece was a mix between a yoik-inspired melody and a hymn floating on top of that. That hymn was called Deilig er jorden – meaning “wonderful is the Earth”. In English speaking countries the same folk tune is known as “Fairest Lord Jesus”. Disney asked for the removal of this part.

According to Fjellheim, the syllables of the song have no linguistic meaning, being part of the vocal style. Vuelie is the South Sámi word for "yoik”. A yoik is both a type of Sámi song, and a unique vocal style used to perform this (often referred to as “chanting”).

Recording history
Fjellheim worked alongside Christophe Beck to compose a new version of the original "Eatnamen Vuelie". In the end, the Disney version was developed by keeping all of the original yoik-inspired parts, and also most of the original arrangement.

The recording was done in Trondheim, Norway. Senior VP Tom MacDougall from Disney and Christophe Beck went to Trondheim to ensure that they got what they wanted. Fjellheim described how everyone was happy with the result.