Search
Santa Fe Reads Kick-Off Concert
April 20thSihasin & Lindy Vision
May 4thAnn Napolitano
May 6thThe Kipsies
May 9thJason Joshua
May 9thJake Shimabukuro
May 10thThe Kipsies
May 11thJake Shimabukuro
May 11thMariee Siou
May 12thKiran Ahluwalia
May 12thKiran Ahluwalia
May 13thMike Zito
May 14thEtana
May 15thEtana & Kabaka Pyramid
May 16thNew Mexico Heritage Celebration
May 18thThe Sadies
May 30thEliza Gilkyson
May 31stEliza Gilkyson
June 1stChristopher Paul Stelling
June 6thChristopher Paul Stelling
June 7thJesse Dayton
June 8thLara Manzanares
June 13thRev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
June 19thFelix Gato Peralta
June 20thFelix Y Los Gatos
July 17thCarolyn Wonderland
July 23rdLara Manzanares
July 24thCarolyn Wonderland
July 24thWailing Souls
August 15thAndrea Magee's She Rises
August 31stBlack Uhuru
September 12thAlejandro Brittes
September 20thThird World
October 3rdCeú
October 8thTopHouse
November 21stDerek Gripper - SOLD OUT!
Add to Cal
Tickets cost $20 in advance, $25 day of show (plus a $2 service charge). They are also available by phone through Hold My Ticket at 505-886-1251.
Derek Gripper is a Cape Town based composer, arranger and virtuoso guitarist known for his groundbreaking technique for evoking the West African kora on solo guitar. His work creates an unprecedented meeting point between written and oral traditions, re-writing the language of African and Classical Guitar.
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.
Since these two recordings put kora/guitar on the map, his recent recordings A Year of Swimming (2020), Billy Goes to Durban, (2021) and Sleep Songs for My Daughter (2022) have incorporated elements of his kora explorations in original compositions and improvisations, captured on tape in the field and in studio.
On-stage Derek is both informative scholar and irreverent comedian, effortlessly shifting between conversation and music, reminding us that the art of the griot, even if only evoked by a non-griot, is the art of storytelling as much as it is the art of music-making.