Musical Instruments: AK-47 GuitarSpokeo
“Make music, not war” is the brainchild of César Lopez, an inventor who has dedicated his life to transforming instruments of death into something all together more beautiful—and life restoring. The AK-47 guitar, named the ‘Escopetarra’, takes its mantle from the Spanish words for shotgun and guitar. Lopez invented the instrument in 2003 as a poignant response to the violence that has long plagued his hometown of Bogotá, Colombia.
Andrew Burton Photography
The Escopetarra is designed to challenge the destructive capabilities of weapons with the generative powers of art, with the Colomobian peace activist saying to his peers that “if the weapon, which was designed to kill, can be changed, then why can’t humans change too?” The guitar’s symbolic beauty has been recognized by high profile artists from across the world, and was even commissioned for Paul McCartney among others. One of the twelve repurposed AK-47’s can now be seen on display at the United Nations Headquarters.