Search
Innastate
November 9thThe Real Matt Jones
November 14thLOL Comedy Fundraiser
November 14thZoë Keating
November 15thKristina Jacobsen
November 17thThokozani Mhlambi
November 19thTopHouse
November 21stHolly Near with Jan Martinelli
November 23rdHolly Near with Jan Martinelli - SOLD OUT!
November 24thCheryl Wheeler with Kenny White
December 4thCheryl Wheeler with Kenny White - SOLD OUT!
December 5thIris DeMent
December 5thClay Street Unit
December 6thThe Boomroots Collective CD Release Celebration
December 7thLaurianne Fiorentino & Michael Kott
December 11thLaurianne Fiorentino & Michael Kott
December 11thMem Shannon
December 18thKalos
January 15thKalos
January 15thKalos
January 16thKalos
January 16thBands of Enchantment Season 4 Red Carpet Premiere
January 23rd3 On A Match Kabarett
January 24thJesse Cook
February 2ndJesse Cook
February 3rdThe Wildwoods
February 4thThe Wildwoods
February 5thThe Ocean Blue
February 21stKathleen Edwards
February 22ndKathleen Edwards
February 23rdAlbert Castiglia
February 25thAlbert Castiglia
February 26thSadness, Madness, & Mayhem
March 1stAltan
March 12thLúnasa
March 18thK.Flay
March 25thYagody
March 29thYagody
March 30thDerek Gripper
Add to Cal
Tickets cost $25 (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.