Derek Gripper

Derek Gripper is a composer and guitarist from the Western Cape of South Africa, merging "the imagery and mystery of the rural areas of the Cape" with the techniques of classical guitar and the string music of Africa (uhadi bow, umrhubhe, kora, guitar). Derek calls this new evolution of music New Cape describing it as a “rethinking of the Cape’s transcultural heritage.”

Derek’s solo performances draw on a wealth of original compositions, as well as works by J.S.Bach, Ali Farke Touré, Toumani Diabaté, Dembo Konté, Egberto Gismonti, Heitor Villa Lobos, Benjamin Britten, Toru Takemitsu, and Luis de Narvaez.

To date he has recorded four solo CDs and three collaborative CDs with Alex van Heerden (SA), Udai Mazumdar (India) and Brydon Bolton (SA). He has performed concerts in Holland, Denmark, the U.K., Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, India, Namibia, and all over South Africa.

In 2010 Derek Gripper started New Cape Records, a music label dedicated to releasing the best of Cape music. Notable releases include Madosini, Alex van Heerden, Gramadoelas, as well as Derek’s own catalogue of compositions. www.newcape.co.za

Derek Gripper began his formal musical training at the age of six on theviolin. After studying classical music for the next thirteen years he began tolook further afield for musical inspiration. This search took him to Indiawhere he studied South Indian Carnatic music. On his return to South Africahe decided to focus on the guitar, trying to find a new direction for theinstrument. He was attracted to the use of multiple layers in the music ofOliver Messiaen, the African-influenced structures of Steve Reich, as well asto guitar arrangements of the music of J.S.Bach. But it was when he met upwith Cape Jazz trumpeter Alex van Heerden that he started to see that hisprevious studies could be used to find new directions for the music of theWestern Cape. The two musician's first recording in 2002, Sagtevlei, laid thegroundwork for an entirely new Cape music, a music that the press called“avant-goema.” Here for the first time the compositional techniques ofcontemporary classical music where used to support the melodic andimprovisational nature of Goema, the carnival music of Cape Town. Thisrecording laid the groundwork for his first solo album, Blomdoorns, a seriesof compositions on an experimental eight-string guitar. Here the rhythms hehad heard in India combined with Cape style melodies and cyclical motives ina simplified guitar language that was entirely unique yet unmistakeablyinfluenced by the Cape's rich and diverse musical history. Over the next fewyears he further developed this musical language, switching to the traditionalsix-string guitar in 2004. After exprimenting once more with the possiblitiesof classical music, he settled into performing only this New Cape music, usinga guitar by the great German Luthier Hermann Hauser III. The 2008 CD “Ayo”documents the first series of compositions for this instrument, exhibiting theinfluence of musicians such as Brazil's Egberto Gismonti and Mali's ToumaniDiabate. It could be said that the music that Gripper creates is South Africa'sanswer to musicians such as Gismonti and Heitor Villa Lobos: classical trainedmusicians from the “South” who have used their skills to develop newdirections in the music of their home countries. It is also interesting to notethat many of the European or American composers that he was initiallyattracted to were profoundly influenced by African music, using its complexcyclical structures and collectivity as the basis for new movements intwentieth century music.

Discography:

Sagtevlei 2002 (open record)Blomdoorns 2003 (open record)Ayo 2008 (derekgripper.com)Songs for the Swans Left Behind 2008 (pfeffermintzgreen) vinylAle!x 2009 (derekgripper.com)Blomdoorns remaster 2009 (derekgripper.com)Sagtevlei remaster 2009 (derekgripper.com)

Derek Gripper has performed in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, India,Namibia and all over South Africa.

Gear

Hermann Hauser III Special Edition Classical Guitar, Bose L1 Compact, Beyerdynamic M160 Ribbon microphone, AEA TRP Ribbon Preamp