November 22, 2009
UTNE READER

Funky Harps: The Innovative Instruments of Walter Kitundu

(Page 3 of 3)

January-February 2009
by Khalid Halhoul 
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Their latest project began as a brainstorming breakfast conversation in which Harrington expressed his desire for the Kronos Quartet to sound like Alemu Aga, a famous Ethiopian musician who plays the begena, a harp thought to have been played by David in biblical times. Kitundu ran with the concept and created three instruments: a double-necked cello to replicate the rattle and raspiness of the begena; a viola, to recreate Aga’s vocals; and a double-vesseled drone instrument that helped set the overall foundation and tone for the composition. They recently recorded a piece using the instruments and will send it to Aga, hoping to gain his approval for a future collaboration and performance.

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Kitundu has more instruments in the works for Kronos, from traditional stringed instruments with metal horns that amplify the sound (similar to the Stroh violins used by klezmer bands) and at least seven more instruments for a planned theater piece.

Even though Kitundu is honored to have received the MacArthur Fellowship, often known as a “genius grant,” he isn’t wedded to a career as a composer or being in the spotlight for one particular invention. He might be just as happy photographing birds (he has published a book of images) or banding raptors near the Headlands Center for the Arts north of San Francisco, where he is an artist in residence.

In his soft-spoken, humble manner, he describes what may be ahead: “I like my life. I don’t need to get a new apartment. I don’t have anything to run away from. The first thing I want to go do is see my parents in Tanzania, then maybe go to the Galapagos to do some writing and photography, sea kayaking in Alaska, a hot air balloon over the Serengeti. The world is such a vast, strange, and wonderful place, and I want to experience it.”

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