Vuvuzela History

[jjimm]

@Haunted_Pasta

Did everyone here know that there’s sheet music for vuvuzela compositions? Here’s an example.

Now that is funny.

I don’t know what happened, but I was just watching highlights from the SA-Uruguay match, and though the early parts of the match were vuvuzelad out, when Uruguay scored the vuvus stopped completely and you could hear people cheering. Later in the match you could only hear individual parps rather than the wall of sound. Maybe the locals were so disheartened they couldn’t be arsed to blow them.

[Deeg]

I’ve always called them “braaaackers” and they are satisfyingly annoying. Got one in my closet for special occasions.

[garygnu]

The blue one my father had when I was a kid (1980’s) was used to sheath his fencing foil. The horn was the exact right size to lock in the foil’s bell. Actually, I had no idea it wasn’t a foil sheath until a few years ago. The fact that you could play it like a trumpet was incidental.

[GreedySmurf]

I don’t know about them being ‘traditional’. But they are currently banned from most major stadiums in Australia. They seemed to become a regular feature through the early nineties at cricket games in particular. Didn’t take all that long (a couple of years) before they were banned from most stadiums. I’m not sure about other stadiums but the main stadium in Brisbane just flat out banned any musical instrument at all.

[Yookeroo]

@yendis

South Africa went from the brink of a race and tribe based civil war to being able to host the biggest sporting event in the world in only twenty years. We are a young and fragile country, with a history of division and conflict that continues to hamper progress towards true unity and equality. And while I considered the idea that a sporting event could be good for the countries social development to be hopelessly naive before the world cup started. Now that it has started I can see just how powerful an agent of change something as simple as football can be when the majority of people embrace it,

This is wonderful.

@yendis

and the vuvuzela has become a symbol for that embrace.

This isn’t.

@yendis

The vuvuzela is not a tradition, but it is well on its way to becoming one and those of you who would stifle this symbol of a unified South Africa are welcome to switch off your televisions and never think about South Africa again.

After the WC.

@scifisam2009

Do you think the world cup would have brought people together less if they weren’t blowing on vuvuzelas? Isn’t it the football and the tournament which is bringing people together, not the toy?

My guess is that it has nothing to to with the damn horn.

[Tangent]

The first and last professional soccer game I ever went to was a Dallas Burn (now FC Dallas) game at the Cotton Bowl in 1997. Everybody had those damn plastic horns and they blew them constantly the whole time. Screw that.

[Floater]

Just as I was reading this thread I listened to a program on the radio about the thing. One possible reason why people find them so annoying, that was mentioned, is that on broadcasts they sound just like a bee swarm.