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Allison Foat, Diva PR
As South Africa experiences a period of lighter restrictions Cape Town guitarist Derek Gripper will be testing the Level One waters with a series of small, socially distanced events in the Cape Town area, a dual commemoration of his last international concert tour in 2020 and one year of musical lockdown.
Derek will play in private homes and in various intimate venues such as the Zeekoevlei Outdoor Garden Concert Secret Venue, the Sangha Spot in Muizenberg, The Cottage Club in Fishhoek Rondebosch House Concert Secret Venue and The Forge in Kalk Bay from March 28 to May 7, with audiences of between 15 and 40 people.
Derek’s last tour of Australia a year ago saw him play sixteen sold out concerts in as many towns and cities. He returned to the Mother City the week before lockdown and has since been running an online subscription service teaching group classes on African guitar. His students are located in South Africa and across the globe in the United States, Canada, Germany, Australia, China, Switzerland, France, the UK and more. His notable experiences include a solo concert at Carnegie Hall, multiple collaborations with classical guitar legend John Williams and classical Indian virtuoso Debashish Battacharya; a performance in Bamako with kora star Toumani Diabate and a a host of award winning albums including 2016’s Libraries on Fire which won the Songlines Music Award for Best African Album. Derek’s recent album A Year of Swimming had a million streams in its first few months of release, and his latest record with Silk Road Ensemble’s cellist Mike Block is set to follow suit. Further details are via https://www.derekgripper.com/tour-dates/ To invite Derek to play at your home or venue you can get in touch on www.derekgripper.com . Tickets are available from R150 via Quicket: https://www.quicket.co.za/organisers/25731-derek-gripper/.
“Five stars… Gripper has brilliantly transferred [the kora] repertoire onto a regular six string guitar. He sees [Toumani] Diabaté as the Segovia, or indeed John Williams, of the kora, championing it as a solo instrument. And Gripper brilliantly takes it back to the guitar. He’s opening a whole new repertoire of classical guitar music… bringing African guitar into the classical mainstream.” — SIMON BROUGHTON “Gripper has cracked it… his playing has a depthless beauty, which does full justice to the complexity of Toumani’s compositions. To do so without any hint of the music being dumbed down is a staggering achievement on solo guitar.” — NIGEL WILLIAMSON, SONGLINES MAGAZINE “A true synthesis and a great album.” — IAN KEAREY, FROOTS