SPARKing Up Sound and Sustainability in Kenya

by Kira Grunenberg

When Monday morning came around, how did most start the new week? Most likely, begrudgingly flipping on a light switch, and reaching over to their phones to check for messages from overnight. This scenario is so commonplace, but the thought that these are automatic actions alone feels awkward and wrong.

Sudha Kheterpal, the drummer for the band Faithless, is no stranger to the modern trappings of the technology era. She is currently taking on a new project to bring a little more perspective to it all.

Kheterpal has teamed up with a dynamic group of engineers, designers, and media specialists to create a small but power packed percussion instrument called SPARK. What looks like a plain, bead filled, rock shaped, shaker on the outside is actually a simple-to-assemble, strong piece of tech that harnesses and stores the energy generated from playing with it. Kheterpal has her sights set on various communities in Kenya, an African nation that could greatly benefit from easily generated, portable, and preservable energy.

The power-generating and storing SPARK instrument

SPARK’s physical shape was designed by Diana Simpson Hernandez, a MA design student at the Royal College of Art in the UK, and its form was inspired by the idea of a flint stone—“refer[ring] to new beginnings; to the initial spark caused by two flint stones contacting each other to give birth to a powerful new source of energy,” as explained by the project team. The primary technology at work here is that of a magnetic process. A magnet that moves along a copper wire coil as SPARK is played generates a current that is stored within a small rechargeable battery. That power can then be utilized via USB connection to power a small light or charge a mobile phone. (The latter is especially applicable and useful because of the prevalence of the mobile phone banking system, M-PESA, which was launched for Safaricom and Vodafone, the main mobile networks of Kenya.) 

SPARK’s prototype has already been built, tested and very positively received by many Kenyans. The accompanying Kickstarter campaign is looking to fund more instrument production and to make it possible to provide educational assembly kits that can be distributed within Kenyan schools.

The goal is £50,000 and 1,000 initial shakers, which would then ideally be followed by more kits for the vast majority of schools and their students all around Kenya.

10 levels of Kickstarter donation provide backers everything from simple thank you tweets to a full week paid trip and accommodations to see and participate in the next round of work done with the SPARK project in Kenya. There are 16 days left in the campaign. The backing currency is in GBP because of the project’s UK base but even if one is outside the UK, every bit of awareness counts!

Kheterpal is inviting everyone, whether you can donate or not, to help spread the word with the hashtag, #ShakeYourPower.

Watch the inspiring Kickstarter video to learn more about SPARK and see the enthusiasm its power brings to these people who make their own beats. Maybe everyone who sees this video will give hesitate the next time they go to flick on a light…

You can follow the #ShakeYourPower campaign on Twitter @ShakeYourPower.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1.

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