I heart Vuvuzuelas, the blowing horns from South Africa

[RWM]

I heart vuvuzelas: http://bit.ly/aYKMQi.
A vuvuzela (English pronunciation: /vuːvuːˈzeɪlə/) , sometimes called a "lepatata" (its Setswana name) or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn approximately 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in length. It is commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa. Their cacophonous din has so far been a soundtrack for the World Cup, to the delight of some and the profound annoyance of others.

According to the SAMJ: South African Medical Journal http://bit.ly/al81Kb: There are now numerous types of vuvuzela made by several manufacturers, which may all produce varying intensity and frequency outputs. Individuals blowing a vuvuzela will produce varying intensities depending on their technique.

[bedouin]

they are annoying. and even more so cause when you are in the ground you can't rant/swear at the players. which is what the greek players deserved the other day

[Yii]

it sounds like GREAT drone music, i really like it!

[billygomberg]

[faster]

Takes all the crowd excitement out of the game, and since the nationalistic fervor is the only thing I like about the World Cup, that means I lose interest more quickly and end up not watching.

[jon abbey]

yep, I've watched way less than previous years thus far. a friend assures me that FIFA will ban them by the round of 16, but that's still way too much of the tournament ruined for me. I can only imagine how irritating they are in person, not to mention germ funnels.

[Steve Reynolds]

I had not idea about these horns until I turned the game on Saturday. I enjoyed the game *but* I couldn't believe they allowed those horns - I thought of it as a sort of drone music but that idea got old very quickly - very surprised that FIFA does not do something about it more quickly as it will keep people from sets in the U.S. where the more casual fandom (like me) will be less likely to tune into games that are not the obvious ones to watch.

[surfer]

Vuvuzelas are still better than Thundersticks.

[RWM]

It's amazing to find instruments that annoying (and singular at the same time) being completely accepted and integrated in popular culture. In Catalunya we have an instrument called Gralla, Chirimía according to the English wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirimia, which is commonly used while dancing Sardanas, a popular dance utterly boring and slow. The whole thing is absolutely twisted and beautiful, because it is so extreme.

[jon abbey]

this is pretty funny, linked on Twitter by Mr. Quam:

http://www.footballiscominghome.info/th ... mment-1680

[Dad Noise]

Hooray, I've wanted to post this topic all weekend but feared I was the only football-watching pleb on the board. I too have gone from the 'wow, this is the perfect combination of my two passions' reaction to the 'fuck, this is really irritating' in about 30 minutes each match. Some South Africans are apparently now saying that the problem is over-enthusiastic foreign tourists blowing away without any understanding of the vuvuzuela's cultural/musical tradition and no sense of drama, narrative, etc. Do people think that sounds likely?

[j-p]

I'm from South Africa myself and I wouldn’t get my hopes up of FIFA managing to ban vuvuzelas at any point of the competition. There was a push to do this before the tournament but there was just too much local opposition - for most South Africans it really is an essential part of the sport's flavour and flair.

I wouldn’t blame the problem on over-enthusiastic tourists either, football matches always sound like this here.

I don’t see it taking any of the excitement or atmosphere away from the game, I just think it’s different and unusual. Personally I can see where everyone is coming from with the hate but I would say: get over it, live and let live and let’s enjoy this occasion

[RWM]

What makes the sound of vuvuzelas so (beautifully) annoying?

Some answers by Trevor Cox (UK Institute of Acoustics) http://bit.ly/bpJROJ

[Gaendaal]

It's amazing to find instruments that annoying (and singular at the same time) being completely accepted and integrated in popular culture.

Bagpipes. Seriously.

[Charon]

It's amazing to find instruments that annoying (and singular at the same time) being completely accepted and integrated in popular culture.

Bagpipes. Seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmaicurzPb0

[ReverendLove]

It's amazing to find instruments that annoying (and singular at the same time) being completely accepted and integrated in popular culture.

Bagpipes. Seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmaicurzPb0

Pure genius - wonderful. Rufus Harley always surprises me.
But the difference vs. vuvuzelas is: this is an instrument which evolved in centuries.
Mmh, I wonder if I can play harmonic series on a vuvuzela. I guess I have to buy one.

[Charon]

I guess I have to buy one.

where would you get one though?

[ReverendLove]

It won't be very difficult. They sold it even at Shell gas stations here in Germany.

For those who want to suppress the vuvuzela tooting:
http://isophonics.net/sites/isophonics.net
http://isophonics.net/sites/isophonics. ... elator.zip
http://www.prosoniq.com/

[Charon]

It won't be very difficult. They sold it even at Shell gas stations here in Germany.

Really? wow, I wish they did that here.....

[RWM]

check on ebay as well
zum beispeil
http://cgi.ebay.es/Fantrote-Sudafrika-6 ... 19bcfe21e9