Derek Gripper at Everard Read
Thu May 11, 18:30 - Thu May 11, 20:30
Everard Read
ABOUT
Join us for an intimate evening in our gallery as Gripper explores the interplay between music and visual art. Gripper is world famous for his ground-breaking technique of evoking the West African kora on solo guitar. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall and NPR tiny Desk.
Tickets: R150 includes a glass of wine (presale only)
Thursday 11 May 2023 at 18:30
Everard Read, 3 Portswood Road V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, 8001
+27 21 418 4527
In this world of many guitarists and many musicians, Cape Town guitarist Derek Gripper stands apart, as the only guitarist in the world to have mastered the technique of the West African 21 string harp, the kora, on a classical guitar. This would have been a big achievement, but Derek’s musical influences and musical loves extend beyond the realm of translation, into another vision: to create a language of improvisation rooted in the philosophy of African music, drawing on music from beyond Africa, a global music reflecting the global nature of musical dissemination in the twenty-first century.
When Gripper released “One Night on Earth,” his 2012 album of kora translations, classical guitar legend John Williams said he thought it was “absolutely impossible until I heard Derek Gripper do it,” while kora maestro Toumani Diabaté asked for confirmation that it was indeed just one person playing. Both invited Derek to collaborate with them: Derek performed with Williams in London’s Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s Place, and with Diabaté and his Symmetric Orchestra at the Acoustik Festival Bamako, Mali. His 2016 Carnegie Hall debut paired him with Mali’s Trio da Kali, and the UK’s Songlines honoured him with best album in Africa and the Middle East for his 2016 album “Libraries on Fire.”
www.derekgripper.com