VUVUZELA DIALOGUE – WITH FRANCIOS LE ROUX
Well now onto the Vuvuzela …..Long before the world cup started and especially after the outcry it created during the Confederation cup in 2009 it was crystal clear that the instant a vuvuzela was thrown onto the field and used as a missile it would almost certainly be sufficient justification for banning it. Given the fact that it is hated by billions of people worldwide because it has seriously compromised their enjoyment of they love game, I was very surprised that proactive anti-vuvuzela fans did not stage a planned action to throw a few Vuvuzela’s onto the field before and during the World Cup ……had this happened it would have been instantly banned. I went onto Wikipedia who list major organizations across the world who have banned the vuvuzela’s and it is growing by the day..
Thank you Bruce
I need to be short this time. I think I’ll take up your challenge. Grab a vuvuzella on stage and make it sing (but not before i did not scare the audience a good bit:-)
I wish you growing success!
Francois
Hello my friend,
As usual I really enjoy your alternative perspectives which are always thought provoking and thanks for your sharing’s……I certainly agree with most of your sentiments. Given my extensive didge experience I know better than most what impact a continuous monotone drone can have both individually and collectively……this is very similar to what you are so insightfully describing is happening with the vuvuzela. As is the case with the didge and drums especially when played collectively, active participants have a great time while the listeners very often hate what they are hearing……one person said he would like to rename the didgeridoo and call it a didgeridon’t because it was the most mindless, dreadful sound he had ever heard…..by all accounts this is exactly what has happened with the vuvuzela.
Over the past few months I have demonstrated the Rainbow Vuvuzela to thousands of people all convinced there is only one way to play it. This has included many primary and high school kids. With few exceptions people have been amazed and intrigued by the hidden sound potential of the vuvuzela. In fact the father of the vuvuzela Neil van Schalkwyk like me, believes that players are only playing it this way because they are not aware that anything else is possible. Because it is human nature to explore, discover and embrace new and better ways of doing things, I believe that the musical transformation of the vuvuzela is inevitable.
Francois please note that in introducing the Rainbow Vuvuzela I am not advocating it should only be played musically but rather that it can be played in many different ways one of which may be to just blast away on it.
I believe that the novelty and need to do this will wear off soon with vuvuzela players especially Europeans….having watched most of the games on television I have noticed the vuvuzela noise levels getting progressing softer….this was very evident in the final last night.
I would love you to experience one of my Rainbow Vuvuzela sessions so that you can experience first hand what I am talking about and so if you can let me have details about when you are in the Cape Town area, I will try to ensure that this actually happens.
In conclusion I would like to say that I welcome and actually delight in different perspectives to my views which I consciously strive to always hold lightly !! Nothing is or ever will be cast in concrete and even the insight of hindsight is very subjective.
Thanks for the article by Rich Mkhondo who I am sure will be please to hear about the Rainbow Vuvuzela
Why don’t you try singing, whistling and sounding through the vuvuzela using it as a megaphone and holding it at an angle to your mouth without sealing your lips on the mouthpiece….you will I am confident by surprised by what will be birthed down this flared plastic tube.
Bye for now in the now,
Bruce
Bruce, just watched the final
And my thoughts became clear on this: we have here, in fact, to do with “the power of one,” the force of the drone, almost a spirituality where the universal of being human is emphasized.
I listened to the constant drone of the vuvuzelas, and i thought, but of course! The reason why so many just keep on falling into it, is number one, that EVERYONE can do it. universal access. NOBODY is wrong. There’s only one note. You cannot possible go wrong. All is in agreement. And secondly, being in agreement, there is a touch of eternity that enters. Timelessness. That’s why it would not stop. It constitutes a gravity you almost cannot help yourself to join in. Usually, pavillion chanting is about the support of a team. Certain phrases are released in response to something that happens on the field. BUT WITH THE VUVUZELA, THE AIM IS NOT THE SUPPORT OF ANY TEAM. It is also not about responding to events on the field. It is about creating a unified energy field, it is about reflecting the power of the beautiful game to BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER. And only a drone can accomplish this. Once harmony, melody and even rhythm enters, the unity is compromised. No coincidence that it works so well with soccer, soccer being the most accessible and universal of the big sports. Anyone can play the ball as they can play the vuvu. Furthermore, apart from the yellow cards and the ball crossing border lines, the whole game is a constant flow, a constant flow of basically one kind of action, one skill: manipulating the ball with your feet, passing it on, passing it on. As the game flows on, the vuvuzellas keep on droning. An Afrikaner oom, in the pub where i watched the game, remarked this: “these buzzing vuvuzellas, i can’t help it, but watching soccer without that constant sound does not work for me anymore. I need to hear that!” The power of this phenomenon, Bruce, I think, is that it came about spontaneously. And the function that it fulfills is fundamental. I am not surprised at the rugby people banning them. Rugby is somewhat more eletist, with all its rules and much more varied skills, roles and field actions. There is less flow than in soccer and more of the mind needs to be applied. And the more one’s mind comes into play, the less you want to be droned into a dream state. I love pavillion chanting, and it certainly is spectacular the way it happens in European soccer and South African rugby. But my guess is Bruce, in all due respect to your efforts, that the drone is here to stay, not as a crude form of expression that needs development, but as a much needed spiritual bond between people. It has in any case certainly cemented itself globally as a signature of South African soccer. And all who has left themselves loose becoming part of this buzz has been touched irrevocably, not in musical terms, but in human terms. When sounds get constructed and beautified, like me and you as musicians love to do, the focus shifts towards art. When it remains at base level, the sound becomes secondary to the one playing it. In that sense, the Vuvuzela, as it surfaced in the soccer context, does not want to be a musical instrument, but an instrument of connection, bringing the feelings and presences of people into a unified flow. And that is essentially an African strength. Ubuntu. Not a western one. I think we need to respect that. Francois
Bruce thanks for all this! Attached find an article – don’t know if you have contact with this guy, if not, could be worthwhile introducing your work to him. There is a wider ripeness, it seems, to take the vuvu further. Reading Tarak, and the power of the drone, I was reminded of a joke my cello teacher (Hungarian Jew) used to tell. There was this cellist who only played one note all day. His wife was not too bothered, but always wondered about this. Then one day she walked past a café and there was a cellist playing inside, playing lots of notes, moving up and down with his left hand and working fast with his bow. She came home all excited and told her husband about it. “Why can you not play like him!?” He calmly looked up from his cello and said: “My dear, this man is still searching for the note. I have found it already!” I actually dreamt of vuvuzela’s last night. Somebody gave me three to play with and expected a performance.. What still fascinates me is this: how is it that with each and every match in this tournament, the sound of the vuvus were CONSTANT throughout. It goes down here and there, and flares up with excitement, but it is NEVER quiet. There must be a tremendous urge – and satisfaction – behind blowing them, blowing them hard and raucously. It is like the spectators just cannot get enough of it! Will they have the same drive when playing melodies, or even grooves? It is one thing to get small groups to make music, but on a mass scale, you need to overcome this phenominal fountain of noisemaking, this release of catharthic – and collective at that – proportions. You have to overcome the power of the drone, this elemental way of people to become ONE. That is the thing: this spirit of being one nation that has surged so powerfully the last month, is that not in part the result of all of us getting together and making ONE sound? Like we are all throwing ourselves into this river of the buzzing beehive, because we actually long for oneness? Your thoughts on that? Francois
Hello Francois,
With regard to your comments about the vuvuzela the following :
I made the conscious decision not to attend any of the soccer matches myself because mass gatherings have never appealed to me and because scientific studies warned that permanent hearing damage was very likely to occur with constant exposure to these sound levels. They also pointed out that only expensive hearing protection(used by shooters) and not ear plugs would provide suitable protection. Many people who attended matches including my son Donovan have told me that the vuvuzela is holding something significant in the stadiums and that this vibe and impact is completely absent in televised matches. The huge television audiences(billions of viewers worldwide) have generally been very critical of the vuvuzela while those in the stadiums(few million) who have experience the vuvuzela vibe have generally enjoyed the experience. I will need to attend some future vuvuzela playing gathering to experience this for myself. Attached is an article by a channeled Tarak entity which made interesting reading inspite of the fact that I am personally quite skeptical about this process. As a didge player I am very aware of the power of a single note played continuously which of course is how the vuvuzela’s are played. The big difference between the didge and vuvuzela however is the volume and the overtones present in the didge but not in the vuvuzela. I have watched most of the matches on television and have really enjoyed them…..witnessing the great fun the outrageous fans have had was really delightful. Have also spent many hours exploring what is possible with the vuvuzela and am delighted at the many new discoveries I am making….by simultaneously producing and matching the singing and the Trumpeting notes, some really beautiful and almost mystical overtones and harmonies are birthed. In a rather strange way I feel destined to play an important part in revealing the enormous transformational sound power of the vuvuzela with many people now referring to me as Dr Vuvuzela because of the extensive media coverage the Rainbow Vuvuzela has received. I believe that what many stadium attendees have experienced and enjoyed about the vuvuzela constitutes only a fraction of what is there waiting to be revealed..so watch this space !!!
Many interesting facts, comments, reactions and ripple effects are going to emerge from people’s vuvuzela experience in the months ahead. These might include the following:
A number of people who suffered from vuvuzela hangover (partial deafness, dizziness, headaches, nausea and swollen lips) might see this as a golden opportunity to make some money and file hearing damage claims against FIFA and the LOC..this is something many legal authorities specializing in health hazard claims have predicted. All countries including South Africa have strict workplace regulations regarding health hazards and the noise levels generated by the vuvuzela far exceed legal noise levels. Was happy to hear you wore ear protection. Will be interesting to see whether people who attended the matches still have the ideal hearing range intact which is between 10 and 20 000 HZ..this is the auditory equivalent of 20/20 vision. See attachments for more background information.
The vuvuzela has been banned at Newlands and at Wimbledon and until the Super 14 Rugby semi finals, was banned at all rugby matches..what Is going to happen now both here and all over the world I wonder !
Believe there are going to be many opportunities to showcase the vuvuzela in the future. This will include ringtones, constant drone Vuvuzela audio tracks, music featuring the vuvuzela being played as a valveless trumpet or bugle, vuvuzela and didge compositions, vuvuzela fanfares and Rainbow vuvuzela ensembles such as the one that I have created. Attached is an update that may be of interest
We have been invited to do a presentation on Saturday afternoon 10 July 2010 at the Cape Town Waterfront Amphitheatre to what promises to be a packed audience. This will involve a short demonstration followed by audience participation. I show some keen audience vuvuzela players how to create 3 different trumpet notes through lip pressure changes(takes about 1 minute for them to be able to do this). They then follow a simple repetitive riff created by some of my ensemble members with a bass drum holding a 4 beat rhythm and Barbara on her cello providing some matching chords. I and the rest of my ensemble flute, sing, whistle and trumpet over and around this riff. The other audience participants simply sing along through their vuvuzela’s using them as megaphones. We all use Rainbow painted vuvuzela’s (see press article) playing not only the conventional B flat, but all the other notes in the chromatic scale. In this way the Rainbow vuvuzela produces rainbow notes and the expression on peoples faces is a delight to behold. Did this at the Grahamstown festival at an open stage event and people where amazed that this is what the vuvuzela can sound like. The groove impact you talk about is exactly what begins to happen but it is much more powerful because it now becomes a musical and not just a rhythmic groove.
Recently I was at a drumming event where around 200 drums where being loudly played to a 4 beat rhythm. I took my Lekolilo(black plastic pipe) which is in the key of E and started playing Inkozi which was clearly heard above the drums and everything changed. While people easily get bored with drumming, musical drumming is never boring.If you happen to be in Cape Town working with a school would be more than happy to come in and demonstrate what I have just described. Have already started doing this at schools where I am also introducing the Clarytone and they have been hugely successful.
Well that’s all for me for now my friend,
Kindly and musically,
Bruce Copley
Bruce, I wish you success in broadening the scope of this very public form of expression. My feeling is that you are climbing a huge mountain, but then again, that is what you would do, being as challenging as you are 🙂
Great that you have the backing of the source man.
I was in Korea for the first 2 weeks of the cup, and stayed with a Korean family in a typical aprtment block. In the evenings they would flip channels, and from my room i always stirred the moment when they flipped onto soccer, for i knew it was soccer because of the buzz that went along with it. The vuv buzz, like killer bees filling the room (although the Koreans turned down the volume of the crowd sound considerably).
I am in two minds about this thing. I resent the fact that everyone is just blasting away with no rhythm or melody, thus, no meaningful collective expression. But at the same time, what is meaningful here? I heard someone use the expression “giving voice to the voiceless” and that struck a chord with me (a monotone chord!). If i look at the actual people while they are blasting, including whites, they are intoxicated by the sound they produce. And they just cannot stop! Great pity i could not make it myself to one match with a vuvu and experience for myself what this intoxication can be like.
There is something about the very brashness and loudness that rings home people in such a strong way that it literally blasts past the real and obvious criticisms of ear damage, players on the field not able to hear each other, irritation from tv audiences and the smothering of other forms of expression, like pavilion chanting. It is so strong, and for better or worse has become such a signature sound, that any expansion or refinement, such as you are introducing, should recognize it as a starting point in one or the other way.
I did hear watching a minor match or two that the vuvus started grooving together spontaneously on a simple rhythmic pattern. Perhaps this will spontaneously evolve further as time goes on and as the initial blasting urge wears off. This would be great. And may it be that your efforts (and i am sure there’s other’s too who are putting feelers out) will merge into such a development so that your offering meet up with a real need. Who knows, as you say, perhaps we could become famous for sports crowds producing great music!
From a very cold Hogsback..
Francois