AK 47 or Guitar___

This is raw video footage of the Colombian musician Cesar Lopez, creator of the unique Escopetarra musical instrument and the only escopetarrist in the world! Seen here is the artist performing at Stain Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, Delhi on 1st November 2011. He was here in India to spread the word of disarmament and peace, supported by the UN Information Centre in association with the Delhi International Arts Festival Organizers, The Colombian Embassy and UNODC.

Frustrated with frequent violence and the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Colombia on February 2003, Mr. Cesar Lopez felt an impetus to help put an ultimate end to this bloodshed. He and his friends envisioned a world free of guns and warfare. Prior to the car bomb blast in a posh club at Bogota, Colombia; he was already an activist and an artist. They started out by performing near the blast site to pay respect to the victims. Then an idea struck him to create an electric guitar out of defunct rifle guns inspired by a soldier who carried his rifle like a guitar. Since then there has been no stopping for Cesar Lopez.

Mr. Lopez, The creator himself also plays the Escopetarra - a Spanish commulative word for the escopeta and guitarra. Confused!?!?! It is a stringed guitar which is an amalgamation of a shotgun and a guitar. The artist designed this musical instrument himself and is trying to break the boundaries of world peace. He is associated with United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). He has been giving free concerts and gifted this unique Guitar to well known personality Bob Geldof and organizations such as the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDRC), Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti.

Even though he has a phobia for guns & munitions, it does not deter him from producing and developing the Escopetarra out of defunct AK 47 guns. He plans on gifting more such instruments for the world to be a better place free from violence, especially in his home country Colombia. On the case in which Caesar Lopez holds the Escopetarra is a sticker which screams "This is not a gun, this is a guitar."

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM 1080i High Definition, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang [at] gmail [dot] com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.