SA’s Gripper to grace Hifa

this annual arts fete is South African guitarist Derek Gripper.
Gripper is a ground-breaking guitarist whose compositions demonstrate an extensive musical diversity, from African bow and harp to contemporary music as well as impressive improvisations.
His unique mastery of the kora (a 21-string harp) on a six-string guitar is phenomenal and defies categorisation.
Gripper began his formal music training at the age of six, when he learned to play the violin. After studying classical music for 13 years, Gripper began to look further afield for musical inspiration of a different kind.
This search took him to India, where he studied South Indian Carnatic music. Carnatic music is derived from the sub-genres of classical Indian music, evolving from ancient Hindu traditions and Hindustani music emerging from Persian and Islamic influences.
Returning to South Africa, Gripper began to focus more on the guitar looking to find new direction for the instrument.
He met up with Cape Jazz trumpeter Alex van Heerden and began to see how his previous musical studies could be used together to create new sounds for the music of his home country.
Gripper and Van Heerden released their first recording, “Sagtevlei” in 2002, which laid the groundwork for an entirely new Cape music.
In 2010 Gripper started New Cape Records, a music label dedicated to releasing the best of Cape music to which Gripper has advanced a tremendous deal.
Gripper’s music and technique break all conventional musical boundaries.
His ability to strum, pluck, play the six strings on his guitar for so much more than they were ever intended is a mastery and definitely something worth seeing.