To the sounds of waza music, Sudanese harvest corn

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To the tunes of the waza, a local wind instrument, Sudanese harvest corn in the southeastern Blue Nile region, rejoicing in the bounty of the harvest season.

Youssef Ismail practices this hereditary ritual every year in his town of Qunais Sharq, and prepares for it weeks before the corn harvest season in the region in early November.

Youssef annually renews the components of the waza horns, which are made from the fruits of the locally grown pumpkin.

"We change the squash in Al-Wazza every year because it is affected by rain and insects," he said, explaining that squash cultivation begins with the onset of clouds and indicators of the rainy season.

The instrument is a kind of conical gourd, which is hollowed out and tied together with tree bark, then fixed to a specific type of wood.

The orchestra that plays the waza consists of 13 musicians, each carrying a trumpet of varying sizes.

The players usually stand in a semi-circle, with the conductor playing the smaller waza in the middle.

The waza is placed in a house that is built in the form of a cone, and it has a guard who is responsible for its manufacture and removal.

Youssef says, "We have taught everything related to the waza to our children," stressing that "they will preserve this tradition when we are absent from this world."

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