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Viva Vuvuzela Since the football World Cup introduced the vuvuzela to the world, this 50cm long plastic horn has been tagged as the scourge that drives people completely crazy with its unrelenting drone. Yet – bravely or into the abyss – Cape Town-based music educator Pedro Espi-Sanchis makes the claim for vuvus as instruments and their love-hate status hasn’t stopped him composing music for them.

The Sound of Music?

text VEERLE DEVOS

DAMn° magazine # 25 / VUVUZELA ORCHESTRA

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For Pedro Espi-Sanchis ‘The vuvuzela is an exciting in-strument that can play in an orchestra as easily as a flute, violin or cello.’ This may require many to take a leap of faith too far, but his undoubted enthusiasm and the vu-vuzela’s history extends further than expressing disgust at the referee’s eyesight. ‘It’s a proudly South African instru-ment with deep roots in local traditional music: the Ici-longo and the Mhalamhala, which are both made out of the horn of the Kudu antelope. This instrument is not re-ally used for music making, but rather to give signals that something important is happening in the community.’

Plastic vuvuzelas used by football fans only have one tone. ‘The sound of the vuvuzelas I heard at games was not musical at all,’ concedes Espi-Sanchis. ‘Vuvuze-las need to play rhythms together to really show their power.’ After realising this, he decided to make the horns longer and shorter, until he got seven different pitches. In 2006 he even launched the Vuvuzela Orchestra and created compositions for it. With this orchestra project Espi-Sanchis teaches in South African townships and in schools all over the world, promoting the range of his pet instrument. ‘I want to bring the joy of making music

to as wide a range of individuals as possible. Our con-nection with the football world allowed us to run several pre-match workshops in South Africa, training many fans who frequently perform at matches.’ Just like the Vuvuze-la Orchestra did many times at the World Cup, taking ad-vantage of the free publicity created by the audio contro-versy surrounding the horns. Espi-Sanchis is obviously a glass half-full guy, undaunted by the global grumbling, ‘If anything the bad reputation of the vuvuzela makes my work making people aware of its rhythmic and musical possibilities of the instrument even more urgent.’ And while some environmental blogs have highlighted more eco-friendly options such as Obsidian’s glass vuvus and those produced by Kelp Environmental Learning Project, whether the vuvuzela will reach beyond the rowdy ter-races and into the hearts of music lovers to become the 21st century’s number one tooter remains to be seen.

Download your own DIY Vuvuzela Orchestra demo video at www.vuvuzelaorchestra.co.za bsidianglass.co.za/article/articleview/150/1/10/www.kelpvuvus.co.za

DAMn° magazine # 25 / VUVUZELA ORCHESTRA

Previous spread:Music educator Pedro Espi-Sanchis with the orchestra he takes with him on a world tour to teach people how to play the tuned vuvuzela. © Photo: Karl Simons

This page, clockwise:The Vuvuzela OrchestraVuvu Semi circle carousselVuvu booket© Photos: Pedro Espi-Sanchis

Obsidian Glass vuvuzela© Photo: Obsidian Glass

Pedro Espi-Sanchis© Photo: Karl Simons

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