César López

César López is a self-taught musician, composer, producer, guitarist and pianist from Bogotá, Colombia. Born in 1973, his work is significant in conflict zones with projects such as 24-0 (24 hours, 0 deaths), a collective action that attempts to reduce homicides in Colombia and in several Latin American countries through artistic interventions and social pedagogy exalting the value of life. Cesar was also the creator of the "immediate reaction artistic battalion", a group of artists who react in moments of crisis by making an immediate presence with their music and rejecting violence in communities where minutes before an attack, bomb or violating action occurred. In 2003, this group gave rise to an emblematic musical instrument in Colombia, “LA ESCOPETARRA”, a guitar created on an AK-47 rifle symbol of the possibility to transform war into art. In the last years he’s been working on a project called “Sound Memory for Peace” which consists of transporting a recording studio in a car that travels to remote municipalities to record the music and testimonies of artists who reject war and construct peace in their communities by rebuilding memory and denouncing the country's pains and tragedies. Cesar Lopez is officially a 'Non Violence Messenger' of the United Nations and an 'Emissary of Consciousness' for Amnesty International.