South African Guitarist Derek Gripper at MACC, Jan. 31

Original Story Published by: Staff Writer for Maui Now
Photo Source: ©MACC

South African guitarist Derek Gripper makes his Maui debut with a solo concert in the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s McCoy Studio Theater Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7:30 p.m. 

Derek Gripper is a well-accomplished musician whose passion and attention to detail has won him recognition worldwide. The recognition Gripper has achieved is derived from producing an extraordinary musical style from his home country of South Africa; fusing the country’s disparate creative traditions with other musical styles from around the world. 

Gripper’s music draws on European classical traditions, avant-garde Brazilian works, Malian kora (a West African 21-string instrument) works, several of Cape Town’s folk styles, and even Indian classical music, synthesizing them into a style uniquely his own. He has ten albums to his credit including his latest, Libraries on Fire. 

Derek Gripper’s 2018/2019 concerts explore the dialogue between the different styles that inform his work. Quotations of Bach, Malian songs, virtuosic kora compositions, Southern African bow music, and avant-garde Brazilian guitar music combine to create a new solo guitar sound which is improvised and composed, traditional and new.