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Devon Allman's Blues Summit
September 9thTab Benoit
September 9thTab Benoit
September 10thGathering Seeds, Tending Roots
September 13thBands of Enchantment: Griffin William Sherry, Sgt. Splendor and JD Nash & the Rash of Cash
September 17thCoco Montoya
September 19thHispanic Heritage Celebration
September 20thBands of Enchantment FREE Outdoor Music Festival
September 20thCoco Montoya - SOLD OUT!
September 20thAlasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
September 24thAlasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas
September 25thJ2B2
September 26thJohn Moreland
September 26thLasotras
September 27thThe Banter Experience
September 30thThe Banter Experience
September 30thMasters of Hawaiian Music
October 3rdSlim Cessna + Maria de Cessna
October 4thMasters of Hawaiian Music
October 4thZar Electrik
October 8thFarah Siraj
October 8thShonen Knife
October 11th"Stop Making Sense" Screening
October 12th"Stop Making Sense" Screening
October 13thIsaac Aragon
October 18thHayden Pedigo
October 22ndIndigenous Heritage Celebration
October 25thGerry O'Connor with Don Penzien
October 31stGerry O'Connor with Don Penzien
November 1stKurbasy
November 8thKurbasy
November 9thRisas y Raíces: Rooted in Laughter
November 13thThe Bébé La La 15-Year Anniversary Concert & Celebration
November 15thLuca Stricagnoli
November 21stJoseph General & High Vibration
November 22ndRyanhood
November 29thRyanhood
November 30thJane Siberry
December 2ndJane Siberry
December 3rdTrey Gunn and David Forlano
December 6thUNM Songwriters Circle
December 10thSadness, Madness, & Mayhem III
January 24thKalos
February 4thKalos
February 5thAlash
March 13thAlash
March 14thLúnasa
March 16thDerek Gripper - SOLD OUT!
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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.