The horn of Africa

The morning after, when everything from bedtime hours to nationalist passions start to come down to relatively normal levels, one could ask just what would be the enduring memory of this edition of the football world cup. Maybe, since this time it also was really for Africa, it could be the moment of realisation of the capabilities of the continent. The tournament, after all, was conducted with great efficiency and even élan. Or it could be the memory of watching an entire tournament with the incessant buzz of vuvuzelas in the background. Since many had cited reasons ranging from the weirdness of the sound, to potential deafness, to players and coaches not being able to hear each other on the ground, to argue against the vuvuzela, the latter’s success has been astounding. And this could well be a great crossover story in terms of a ‘musical’ instrument used by sports fans. Indeed, some cricket matches have already been played to the sound of that now-familiar angry-hornet-buzz.

Perhaps another measure of its apparently growing popularity is that the vuvuzela has already attracted a fatwa. Relevant authorities in the UAE have issued the edict against the trumpet as it is apparently not religiously feasible to hear the vuvuzela’s sound above 100 decibels. It can cause harm, goes the thinking. A vuvuzela can, hence, be used in the UAE only if it produces less than that assigned decibel level. But fear of harm isn’t the only reason for some people to refuse the horns. A trader in the UAE also reportedly found that the horns were traditionally used by African shamans and witchdoctors to bring out devils. Presumably scared by the idea, this trader cancelled his order for more vuvuzelas. No point telling him if devils or associated dark-world characters could be summoned by blowing a horn, post the world cup we’d have had maybe azillion roaming around the world by now. Noisy or bedevilling, the vuvuzela, it seems, might be here to stay!