Inspired by music, this Kamloops tree lights up when it feels the beat

KAMLOOPS – You might have noticed the festive lights strung across several trees on Victoria Street, but there’s one tree different than the rest.

The tree, in front of Blenz Coffee shop, will only light up when a passerby connects its sensor to an instrument.

“It’s actually very simple,” developer Aras Balali Moghaddam says. “The sensor picks up vibration, even if you tap on it. It just picks up the amplitude of sound."

Balali Moghaddam hasn’t seen many people take to the project yet — it was installed just last week — but he’s hoping a musician will make their way downtown, keep the tree lit and the public entertained.

“Some have tried putting the sensor on their throat and singing. I still want to see a video of people doing it,” he says.  

The project is a combination of efforts between the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association and Makerspace, where Balali Moghaddam works as a director.

Makerspace is a non-profit group and workshop which helps local inventors and artists create and develop projects.

Balali Moghaddam says the cost to create the tree was minimal — most of the items used to make the light-up tree were in the Makerspace recycling box. The association donated the pulsing LED lights.

“If other people want to do similar projects, they can come to the space,” he says.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.