King Lutendo is a genre-defying artist whose work blends sonic storytelling with visual exploration. Hailing from Limpopo, South Africa, he draws deeply from his Venda heritage, infusing his music and art with ancestral echoes, experimental sounds, and spiritual symbolism. Whether performing live or crafting immersive installations, King Lutendo invites audiences into a world where tradition meets futurism.

1. Your work carries a strong spiritual presence and connection to your Venda roots — what’s one ancestral teaching that continues to guide your art today?

This all comes from the fact that I have always been intrigued by God and His nature, nothing inspires me more than knowing that there is a greater purpose even behind the greatest purpose. The fact that there is a greater source as a starting and ending point to all things, with us in the middle of it all experiencing the highest form of love in order to be able to share it with each other, being able to experience creation while attaining inspiration to create from it. Acknowledging the very existence of God is acknowledging the infinite, the infinite possibility to be better and greater, to break generational curses, to tap into our own highest potential. There is a wisdom found in the spiritual that transcends the very nature of even time and space, the makings of a man are made known. I could go on and on but once we use God as the starting point inspiration becomes an endless stream.

2. You move between mediums — from music to visual storytelling. What usually comes first for you: the sound, the vision, or the feeling?

The urge to create has always come first, the capacity of skill expands almost every other day but this goes hand in hand with the insatiable appetite to create. Even with all that I do from the children’s story books to the animations, art pieces and albums all of it still never feels like I’m making the most of every avenue my potential allows. Sometimes it starts with an image, sometimes with just a line, a melody, sometimes it’s a camera angle.

3. If your creative journey had a soundtrack, what three songs would be on it right now?

One More Year by Tame Impala, DNM by Mk.gee and Water by Kanye West

4. There’s a strong sense of futurism in your work — what does the future look like through King Lutendo’s lens?

I honestly have no idea, and this is what keeps the scope open as wide as possible for me. I freely give myself to whatever God has in store for me, even at my highest level of thinking I’m still only limited by what I know. I’ve learned that the less caps I put on my potential the more infinitely it grows. But if I had to choose where I’d like to see myself I’d love to be involved in the film industry within the near future.

5. You’re always evolving — but what’s one thing you’ll never compromise on as an artist?

I’ll never compromise my message, I feel like having this gift and not using it to teach is the most selfish thing I can do.