Award-winning South African born and based performer, composer and arranger Derek Gripper releases his brand-new live album, ‘One Night On Earth’ via global artist services company Platoon. Listen here.
In 2012 Derek Gripper spent a full night session in a small chapel on a farm four hours from the city of Cape Town. The session captured Toumani Diabaté’s virtuosic kora works (21 string harp) on guitar for the first time.
Ten years on, during South Africa’s lockdown, Derek returned to this chapel to record a live concert of the same material. After a decade of touring with some of the world’s greatest musicians, and visiting Mali to play with Toumani himself, the session is a simple, informal and unedited rendition, recorded on a vintage tape machine, with a live audience and the gentle accompaniment of South African night sounds, all until the tape runs out at the end of the final track.
‘One Night On Earth’ is out now via Platoon. Listen here.
TRACKLIST:
- Kaounding Cissoko
- Bakoye
- Mama FC
- Tubaka
- Elyne Road
- Djourou Kara Nany
- ‘56
- Chamber Music
- Toumani’s Jarabi 1987
- Kaira
- Konkoba
Derek Gripper is known for his ground-breaking technique for evoking the West African kora on the guitar. He has transcribed the complex music of Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté and infuses his interpretations of Bach’s music with lessons from the oral traditions of Africa. He tours and delivers workshops worldwide in academic institutions, prestigious concert halls as well as Classical, Guitar, Wellness and World Music festivals and conferences. Derek Gripper has also performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk series, TED X Cape Town, and Sofar Sounds sharing not only his skills as a performer but inviting audiences to participate in the construction and legacy of his musical curiosities.
