Vuvuzela

Vuvuzela with sound sample

The Vuvuzela [ vuvuˈzɛla ] ( Zulu ) ( sometimes also called Lepatata in Setswana ) is a wind instrument and is considered a symbol of South African football .

Because of the way it produces sound, the vuvuzela is a brass instrument . Originally made of sheet metal, but now mostly made of plastic, the instrument consists of a conical tube up to one meter long, with an integrated funnel mouthpiece at its narrow end . The length of the tube, which is approximated to an exponential funnel, and the length of the mouthpiece are designed to be able to play the fundamental tone of the natural tone series at a very high volume.

With Vuvuzelas, sound pressure levels of 120  dB (A) can be achieved at a distance of one meter, and even up to 131 dB (A) directly on the horn . Some of the three-part vuvuzelas sold on the European market are equipped with a silencer that reduces the sound pressure level by approx. 13 dB (A). Measurements by TÜV Nord on a stadium grandstand showed a maximum value of 103.8 dB (A). The reduction in volume is brought about by a several centimeter long reduction in the cross section directly behind the mouthpiece. However, these silencers can be removed.

The blowing-over to higher natural colors is possible in principle, but is complicated by the scale length of tube and mouthpiece. Therefore, as a rule, only a few notes can be played on the instrument, and they are not always intonated consistently. If the root note is played on the vuvuzela, its sound is similar to the sound of an elephant's trumpet . Often used in stadiums, however, they sound like a swarm of hornets .

The origin of the name is controversial. It could come from the Bantu language isiZulu and mean “to make noise” or from the sound vuvu that is generated, or from a slang of the townships , where it would be derived from the word for shower - here in the sense of someone showering in music, or allude to the shower head shape of the instruments.

history

Vuvuzelas in different colors

A forerunner of the vuvuzelas in South Africa in the 1990s were brass horns. The South African company Masincedane Sport claims to have started mass production from plastic in 2001. Production was later promoted through a collaboration with the South African Football Association . According to another account, a Chinese entrepreneur from the small town of Ninghai, south of Shanghai, was inspired to produce plastic horns while reading a South African comic in 2001. A South African businessman ordered the first instruments on the Internet platform Alibaba.com .

Alongside the Makarapa , it became a symbol of South African football and an official fan article . While initially only a few fans used the trumpet as a whipping and rhythm device accompanied by dancing and singing, it developed into a mass phenomenon, especially in the South African football fan culture .

Former President Nelson Mandela had hundreds of vuvuzelas taken to Zurich when the decision to award the 2010 World Cup was made there. The price for a vuvuzela in South Africa was previously around 30 rand (around 3 euros), but rose to 100–200 rand (around 10–20 euros) in the tourist regions as a result of the soccer World Cup.

During 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa vuvuzelas were used extensively. Some TV channels and gamers turned to FIFA to criticize the "loud use of plastic trumpets". The notorious background noises at the Confederations Cup ensured that there was extensive media coverage of the phenomenon of vuvuzela and that an intense discussion broke out among the television viewers, as one felt annoyed by the constant noise. The loud background noise, especially when the South African team is playing, is obscured by the voices of the commentators. It is characteristic that Vuvuzelas, in contrast to fan songs and speaking choirs, are used completely independently of the course of the game and its tension. FIFA President Sepp Blatter spoke out against a ban on Vuvuzela in the World Cup stadiums and said: “I don't know if we can stop this sound. Africa is loud, it is full of energy, rhythm, music, dance, drums. This is Africa, we have to accept it that way ”. On June 18, 2009, FIFA decided against a ban, so that the Vuvuzelas could also be used at the 2010 World Cup. In addition, a legal dispute broke out over the trademark rights of Vuvuzela.

According to Neil van Schalkwyk, exclusive license holder during the World Cup, around 800,000 Vuvuzelas had been sold in South Africa and another 1.5 million in Europe by June 2010. The German Gerd Kehrberg secured with a partner the right to manufacture the instrument in Germany and to sell it in all 27 EU countries. According to his own statements, by June 2010 he had around five million Vuvuzelas produced in his own company and at companies from Bad Kreuznach and Gummersbach. Vuvuzelas made of plastic in many national colors are produced and marketed in Germany. The German vuvuzelas consist of three parts (so that they fall apart when used as a striking weapon), while the South African are made of one piece. On September 1, 2010, the European Football Union UEFA imposed a ban on vuvuzela for all games under its aegis. She justified this step with European football culture and tradition - the atmosphere at the games would change with Vuvuzelas.

Scientific evaluation

According to Max Peter Baumann , the former holder of the chair for ethnomusicology at the University of Bamberg , the vuvuzela is a natural trumpet that only produces the notes of the series of natural notes without valves or flaps . The pitch is varied by the blowing pressure and the different tension of the lips on the mouthpiece . Such simple natural trumpets are used in many peoples, such as in India or Tibet. In Africa, too, there are many variants that are intended for use in the wild and are very, very loud.

Reinhardcopyz, professor of music psychology at the Hanover University of Music and Drama , speaks of a broad frequency spectrum of the vuvuzelas through masking effects . Other instruments have a smaller range of frequencies, while the vuvuzela is strongly represented in a very broad range, from the strongest first partial at 220 Hz to 15000 Hz . This leads to interfering sensations as well as overlapping of other signals, since the frequency spectra required for this are covered. The pitch depends solely on the length of the instrument, so that the interplay of vuvuzelas of different lengths creates so-called clusters that are perceived as noise . He criticized the instrument as a pure marketing invention, which is sold to us as a traditional culture and which destroys fan culture . In ethnology this is called " invented tradition ".

Gero Erdmann from the Leibniz Institute for Global and Regional Studies also said: The Vuvuzela is still very young and was invented nine years ago. One could hardly speak of pan-African culture, since the spread was limited to South Africa until the previous year. The traditional instrument that the inventor relies on in marketing is hardly present in culture. The ethnomusicologist Bernd Clausen from the University of Würzburg called the connection to traditional musical instruments largely out of thin air: Signal instruments such as hollowed-out antelope horns exist in many African cultures and they were used in shamanism , for example . However, these are hardly any instruments with the sound-amplifying funnel opening of the Vuvuzela, and certainly no plastic devices. Rather, according to Clausen, the instrument is a good example of how globalization does not stop at musical instruments: the media and global transport systems in particular drove their spread at lightning speed, with producers quickly emerging outside South Africa. However, he considers it unlikely that the instrument will become a tradition in world football.

Noise protection controversy

Warning notice on a vuvuzela

The Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia issued a recommendation in May 2010 to all municipalities to prohibit the use of vuvuzelas at public events ( public viewing ) in order to damage the hearing of other visitors and avoid the possible drowning out of emergency announcements. While some German cities followed this recommendation, use in others is still allowed.

The state-owned airline South African Airways has pointed out that making a noise with a vuvuzela during a domestic flight through South Africa is against the law and could therefore even be punished with up to six months in prison.

Critics of the Vuvuzela also include various prominent players from the World Cup, who feel disturbed by the loud noise during the game. The reporters also feel hindered in their work by the background noise. There are also controversial discussions in South Africa itself. To reduce the sound pressure level from 131 to around 100 dB (A), ear plugs - so-called Vuvu stoppers or Tulazela - are offered in South Africa , which were often sold out due to high demand during the World Cup.

Bundesliga clubs in Bremen, Mönchengladbach, Stuttgart, Freiburg, Nuremberg and Dortmund have banned the use of vuvuzelas in their stadiums.

Use in demonstrations

After the World Cup in 2010 , vuvuzelas also became a popular noise instrument during demonstrations . The French trade union confederation CFDT 3000 ordered these wind instruments for its rallies. José Pecci, head of a company in the south of France that imports them from China via Germany, thanked the trade unions after the initial sales successes at rallies in June 2010 and stated that he was ready for additional orders: he had 10,000 pieces in stock.

In Germany, among other things, during the protest against Stuttgart 21, vuvuzelas were often used alongside other noise instruments. The solemn farewell to Christian Wulff from the office of Federal President with the military ceremony of the Great Zap was accompanied by demonstrators in front of Bellevue Palace with the noise of vuvuzelas in March 2012 .

In the demonstrations against the Szydło cabinet in Poland that have been taking place since autumn 2015, a large number of vuvuzelas have also been used.

Use as a musical instrument

Especially in the 2010 World Cup, some music producers jumped on the vuvuzela trend and used vuvuzela sounds in pieces of music, which, however, were mostly samples . Well-known examples of this are Sonic Solutions - The Vuvuzela and Gebroeders Ko - Vuvuzela

It can be used as a rhythm instrument with a little practice. It is used as a toy instrument among children .

Trivia

The Nazareth Baptist Church in South Africa claimed that the vuvuzela was based on their customs. The kuduzela , also from South Africa, is modeled on the antlers of the great kudu and is produced by an automotive supplier. The instrument was first presented in 2009 by David Mabunda, head of the South African Nature Park Authority (SANParks) in Pretoria . So-called Vuvuzela filters were offered during the World Cup. In addition to filters based on notch and comb filters or more complex methods of signal analysis , in which the audio signal of the television set is passed through special software , there were also fraudulent offers. For example, MP3 files were offered that are supposed to extinguish the Vuvuzela noise by means of anti -sound - a procedure that can never work without constant dynamic phase adjustment. On the contrary, when playing the MP3 , the noise becomes louder.

In Germany, a similarity between the pronunciation of the Vuvuzela and the name of the former national player Uwe Seeler was discussed in some media . At the concert of the Berliner Philharmoniker in the Berlin Waldbühne in 2010 and 2011 the trumpeters exchanged their instruments for black, red and gold vuvuzelas and one with Union Jack (a British musician) during the traditional closing piece Berliner Luft at “Luft, Luft Luft” . The trombonist Reinhard Gramm composed a World Cup fanfare for vuvuzela and trombones under the title German Footballer Tempo .

On the Foreshore Freeway Bridge in Cape Town , South Africa , the largest Vuvuzela in the world with a length of 35 meters according to the Guinness Book of Records was installed during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

See also

• Hoot
• Phalaphala , South African antelope horns

Web links

Commons : Vuvuzelas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Vuvuzela  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Makhaye, Chris. Blasts of joy as vuvuzelas unbanned . July 13, 2008. IOL
2. ↑ ^{a b} V is Vuvuzela ( Memento from October 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). FIFA
3. ↑ ^{a b} Vuvuzela: SA football's beautiful noise . In: southafrica.info
4. ↑ De Wet Swanepoel, James W. Hall, Dirk KOEKEMOER: Vuvuzela: good for your team, bad for your ears. In: South African Medical Journal . Volume 100, No. 2. 2010, ISSN  0256-9574 , pp. 99-100.
5. ↑ Due to current events . Manufacturer's information on volume discussion. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
6. ↑ Legal protection against the devil's rivers? , Adolf Rebler in Legal Tribune Online, accessed June 16, 2010.
7. ^ Ronny Blaschke: Shower made of music . In: Berliner Zeitung . June 11, 2010 ( online ).
8. ↑ Astrid Freyeisen: World Cup horns from the backyard - Vuvuzelas made in China . ( Memento from July 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) tagesschau.de , July 1, 2010.
9. ↑ Invisible monster wasps. Süddeutsche Zeitung from June 12, 2010.
10. ↑ ^{a b} FIFA decision. South Africans can continue to trumpet . In: Spiegel Online . June 18, 2009. Retrieved December 5, 2009.
11. ↑ Players and TV stations annoyed by Tröten Spiegel Online from June 18, 2009
12. ↑ Vuvuzela - tinnitus for four weeks.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Kleine Zeitung of May 13, 2010  
13. ↑ Volker Herrmann: The Vuvuzela as a brand. Farting noises from hell . In: Erection.de. Retrieved December 5, 2009.
14. ↑ Neo-Colonialists against Vuvuzelas , Stern.de from June 15, 2010.
15. ↑ Bundesliga trumpeting without end Focus from June 17, 2010
16. ↑ Frank Urbas in Spiegel-online: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/wm-2014-brasilien-samba-trommel-combinho-wird-vuvuzela-nachhaben-a-971159.html
17. ↑ Nina Schulze, Merlin Scholz: These are the noisemakers from Lüdenscheid. In: Bild.de, October 30, 2009.
18. ^ Reutlinger Generalanzeiger: Vuvuzela: The elephant sound of the World Cup
19. ↑ “UEFA bans vuvuzelas” , UEFA website of September 1, 2010
20. ↑ Trumpet for victory ( Memento of the original from June 25, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Frankenpost dated June 11, 2010. 
21. ↑ Trumpeters of all clubs unite! Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from June 14, 2010.
22. ↑ Ethnologist: Vuvuzela tradition all nine years old , Der Standard from June 16, 2010
23. ↑ Public viewing of the soccer world championship is also possible this year . Communication from the Ministry for the Environment and Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
24. ↑ Vuvuzela forbidden to horn in airplanes. In: Handelsblatt.com of May 21, 2010
25. ↑ Noisy horns - South Africa's World Cup boss is considering banning Vuvuzela. In: Spiegel-Online from June 13, 2010
26. ↑ Vuvuzelas annoy Gourcuff: “Reason for bad passes”. ( Memento from June 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) In: Sueddeutsche.de from June 13, 2010
27. ↑ T. Niggl: I hate these vuvuzelas. In: Tagesanzeiger.ch of June 13, 2010
28. Jump up ↑ Keep your hands off the vuvuzela! ( Memento from June 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Frankfurter Rundschau from June 13, 2010
29. ↑ handelsblatt.com
30. ↑ See African stores run out of 'vuvu-stopper' earplugs (English)
31. ↑ associations prohibit noisemakers n.tv from August 17, 2010
32. ↑ Tröten for the pension Spiegel Online from September 5, 2010
33. ^ Schwabenstreich , Zeit Online from October 13, 2010
34. ^ Big tattoo for ex-presidents. To say goodbye to Wulff, the Vuvuzela Berliner Morgenpost, March 8, 2012. Accessed March 8, 2012
35. ↑ itunes.apple.com
36. ↑ youtube.com
37. ↑ Unholy row over World BBC January 16, 2010
38. ↑ Kuduzela competes with Vuvuzela , T-Online from July 14, 2009.
39. ↑ u. a. Hoax? Vuvuzela filter puts an end to the hum . Der Standard, June 14, 2010.
40. ↑ For example Prosoniq VuvuX (for free). Inside: VuvuX [recognizes and separates] speaking voice, background noise and vuvuzelas based on their characteristic patterns.
41. ^ Anti-Vuvuzela Software Appears . Discovery News, June 15, 2010. In it: I excitedly downloaded the MP3 file, played it alongside Brazil v. North Korea on my computer and ... It only made the Vuvuzela sound louder. Much louder.
42. ↑ Vuvuzela? Uwe Seeler! Der Tagesspiegel , June 11, 2010
43. ↑ Vuvuzela becomes Uwe Seeler… ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Frankfurter Neue Presse and rhein-main.net, as of June 12, 2010. 
44. ↑ Festival Summer - The Berlin Philharmonic in the Waldbühne 2010 , 3sat , June 27, 2010, 8:15 pm, live broadcast
45. ↑ Summer Festival - The Berlin Philharmonic at the Waldbühne in 2011 , 3sat, July 2nd 2011, 20:15, live broadcast
46. ↑ World Cup Fanfare for Vuvuzela and Trombones State trombonist Reinhard Gramm surprised by great demand ( memento of July 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ). Evangelical Lutheran Church District Stade from September 25, 2010.