Vuvu veers toward becoming a Proudly SA icon

FROM pariah to popular icon, the vuvuzela certainly has undergone a 180° reputation turnaround since the first cynical reports about the African football trumpet surfaced internationally. Once denounced as a noisy intrusion on the hallowed game of football, the vuvuzela is now coming to epitomise the first World Cup on African soil. Every Tom, Dick and Sizwe has one.

If one can’t blow one, after hours of practice at Fan Fests and stadiums around the country, questionable sounds are tolerated until that moment when cheeks puff out like a bullfrog and the perfect “paaarrrpp” escapes. After that there are variations to the sounds one can generate, but one thing is undeniable: it is addictive, very addictive.

Whether one likes it or not the vuvuzela is also surpassing the negative reports it managed to garner in international media because it is so popular and is amongst the perfect take-away pieces of memorabilia from the Cup.

Global fans all want one. Even the international media itself.

A large contingent of green and yellow vuvus were taken to the media centre at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium when Netherlands played Brazil. Media, sometimes speaking in broken English, queued up for one to take home to children, wives, brothers and sisters.

Blowing the vuvu was not however permitted in the media centre!

People are patriotically appropriating their vuvuzela as part of their fan getup and branding them with their country’s flags and football insignias. A toot on the vuvuzela has now come to symbolise much more than noise in the stands – it is representative of local, national and international participation and solidarity.

The popularity of the vuvuzela is undisputed in South Africa – at least if one is anywhere near being a football fan. But it is its astronomical growth internationally which is indicative of the global impact the vuvuzela is wielding – or more accurately heralding, as a proudly South African product morphs from object to icon.

By June 16, just after the World Cup kicked-off on June 11, British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s had sold more than 40 000 vuvuzelas. The company said it expected to sell more than 75 000 of the horns to footie fans around Britain by the end of the tournament.

Their stats show how fashionable it is to be a part of the vuvu-touting masses. Apparently Sainsbury’s averaged one vuvuzela sale every two seconds during the England match against the US and it is becoming one of the must-have World Cup souvenirs in the UK.

In addition to that, London Mayor Boris Johnson – who famously blew a vuvuzela on his World Cup trip to South Africa – also announced vuvuzelas might be allowed at the London Olympics. There is nothing small about this horn of humble beginnings.

The origins of the vuvuzela actually remain in dispute. The Shembe church is known to use it in celebrating some of its feasts.

The man who is attributed with inventing the vuvuzela and its variations is Freddie “Saddam” Maake, an avid Kaizer Chiefs fan. Whatever the origins, there is no doubt this symbolic horn is a global sound sensation and commercial success.

The vuvuzela has managed to shirk its problem-child image by its appropriation by the international masses and its general infectiousness. The world public has spoken in favour of the horn and there is no fighting with public opinion.

Bloomberg media reported earlier this month that vuvuzela manufacturers were struggling to keep up with demand. The Vuvuzela Branding Company said its vuvuzela sales have climbed from 20000 a month to 20000 a day.

Vuvuzela online sales have, according to Amazon, gone up by 1000%.

Even in South Africa, in the Eastern Cape, it is difficult to get one’s hands on the prized vuvuzela. One friend hopped from stall to stall and person to person, trying to get hands and lips on one.

There are also internet blogs which boast fan pictures of soccer supporters with their prized vuvuzelas and there is even a vuvuzela ring tone available for cellphones. This is just the tip of the popularity iceberg of the horn.

The fans are behind the vuvuzela, blowing for their country – and there is no point in silencing something which has become iconic in its own right.

At the end of the day, at a match at the stadium or at the Fan Fest or public viewing area, or even from the balcony or window of your home, or from a car or taxi, if you have the essential African football accessory, you are undoubtedly a part of the first African World Cup.