Vuvuzela: football's beautiful noise

Mary Alexander

What's plastic, a metre long, brightly coloured and sounds like an elephant? It's the vuvuzela, the noise-making trumpet of South African football fans, and it's come to symbolise the sport in the country.

It's an instrument, but not a musical one. Describing the atmosphere in a stadium packed with thousands of fans blowing their vuvuzelas is difficult. Up close it's an elephant, sure, but en masse the sound is more like a massive swarm of very angry bees.

And when there's action near the goal mouth, those bees go really crazy.

To get that sound out requires serious lip and lung strength, and a fair amount of technique. Be sure to get in some good practice before attending any South African football match, or you may produce a sad little sound provoking accusing stares and much shuffling away from you in the seats!

It's said that the earliest form of vuvuzela was the kudu horn, blown to summon African villagers to meetings. Later versions were made of tin.

The trumpet became so popular at football matches in the late 1990s that an empowerment company, Masincedane Sport, was set up in 2001 to mass-produce it. Made of plastic, they come in a variety of colours - black or white for fans of Orlando Pirates, yellow for Kaizer Chiefs, and so on - with little drawings on the side warning against blowing in the ear.

There's uncertainty on the origin of the word "vuvuzela". Some say it comes from the isiZulu for - wait for it - "making noise". Others say it's from township slang related to the word "shower", because it "showers people with music" or, more prosaically, looks a little like a shower head.

The announcement on 15 May 2004 that South Africa would host the 2010 Fifa Football World Cup gave the vuvuzela a major boost, with some 20 000 sold on the day. There is talk of making it the official instrument of the 2010 tournament.

It's a noisy thing, so there's no surprise some don't like it. News24 columnist Jon Qwelane now only watches football matches at home, with the sound muted, because of what he describes as "an instrument of hell", "this satan of an instrument". And vuvuzelas were banned at Ellis Park rugby matches in 2004 after complaints from other spectators.

The South African Football Association also seems to have its reservations, asking manufacturers to reduce the weight of the trumpet from 140g to 100g - so that fans don't use it as a weapon.

Love it or hate it - and most of us love it - visitors to South Africa's 2010 Football World Cup are sure to go home with a few vuvuzelas tucked in their luggage - and a little ringing in their ears.