APR 25-28 | SOUTH AFRICAN FREEDOM DAY COMMEMORATION
Apr 25, 2024
Joe Henderson Lab
PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production
Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.
Original show description below.
A celebrated musical explorer known for founding genre-mashing ensembles, South African guitarist Derek Gripper has taken his well-traveled instrument into previously unimagined realms. In his Bay Area return to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Freedom Day, he’s playing solo acoustic guitar, focusing on his extraordinary original compositions and transcriptions of music by West Africa’s greatest masters of the 21-string kora, particularly Mali’s Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko.
A harp-lute made from a skin-covered calabash with a hardwood neck, the kora can provide bass lines and harmonic accompaniment while simultaneously allowing an adept player to improvise flowing melodies. Translating this intricate music onto the guitar, Gripper introduced this strikingly beautiful body of music on the 2012 album One Night on Earth: Music from the Strings of Mali. He expanded the repertoire on 2016’s acclaimed Libraries on Fire (both on New Cape Records), which covers three generations of kora masters. In recent months, he’s also been exploring the overt and submerged links between Bach and contemporary improvisation. Gripper brings his singular sound to the Bay Area with a solo recital that can take on orchestral dimensions.
“A master musician” (Rolling Stone), Gripper performs remarkable originals and transcriptions of Malian Kora music on solo acoustic guitar.
SFJAZZ MAGAZINE
› The Spirit Of Ubuntu: Celebrating South African Freedom Day
His playing has a depthless beauty. …a staggering achievement on solo guitar.
Songlines on Derek Gripper
His playing has a depthless beauty. …a staggering achievement on solo guitar.
Songlines on Derek Gripper
Personnel
Derek Gripper guitar
[He is] opening a whole new repertoire of classical guitar music.
Evening Standard
Personnel
Derek Gripper guitar
[He is] opening a whole new repertoire of classical guitar music.
Evening Standard
Watch & Listen
Derek Gripper
Bullfight
Derek Gripper
Seeing Nobody
Derek Gripper
Bullfight
Derek Gripper
Seeing Nobody
APR 25-28 | SOUTH AFRICAN FREEDOM DAY COMMEMORATION
APR 26-27
APR 28
Johannesburg Saxophonist
McCoy Mrubata