local artist walter kitundu makes rad weird instruments, wins “genius” grant
A friend recently alerted me to Tanzanian-born, but locally based artist Walter Kitundu. He won the genius grant this past September. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a weird instrument nerd and his weird instruments are pretty awesome. Ocean powered instruments. Candle powered phonographs. Integrating koras into phonographs with the phonograph needle providing the amplification.
Check out this profile of him (on KQED) to get an idea:
You can also listen to an interview/ sample of his phonoharp on NPR.
Hey Adrian – this guy is great! Thanks for the post. What amazing sounding instruments. Speaking of quirky instrument makers, I just bought a electric kalimba from a really interesting guy when I was back home for the holidays in Portland, Oregon. Check out his website (http://ekalimba.com). He uses all salvaged materials for all of them, and he must have 50 kalimbas in his house.