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Derek Gripper
Derek Gripper is a South African guitarist and composer. His music ranges from original versions of music by Toumani Diabate and Egberto Gismonti, to a wealth of new compositions based in the sounds and silence of the Western Cape and beyond.
About Me
Derek Gripper (born November the 14th, 1977 in Cape Town) is a South African composer
and guitarist.
Derek Gripper began his formal musical training at the age of six on the violin. After
studying classical music for the next thirteen years he began to look further afield for
musical inspiration. This search took him to India where he studied South Indian Carnatic
music. On his return to South Africa he decided to focus on the guitar, trying to find a new
direction for the instrument. He was attracted to the use of multiple layers in the music of
Oliver Messiaen, the African-influenced structures of Steve Reich, as well as to guitar
arrangements of the music of J.S.Bach. But it was when he met up with Cape Jazz
trumpeter Alex van Heerden that he started to see that his previous studies could be used
to find new directions for the music of the Western Cape. The two musician's first
recording in 2002, Sagtevlei, laid the groundwork for an entirely new Cape music, a music
that the press called �avant-goema.� Here for the first time the compositional techniques
of contemporary classical music where used to support the melodic and improvisational
nature of Goema, the carnival music of Cape Town. This recording laid the groundwork for
his first solo album, Blomdoorns, a series of compositions on an experimental eight-
string guitar. Here the rhythms he had heard in India combined with Cape style melodies
and cyclical motives in a simplified guitar language that was entirely unique yet
unmistakeably influenced by the Cape's rich and diverse musical history. Over the next few
years he further developed this musical language, switching to the traditional six-string
guitar in 2004. After exprimenting once more with the possiblities of classical music, he
settled into performing only this New Cape music, using a guitar by the great German
Luthier Hermann Hauser III. The 2008 CD �Ayo� documents the first series of compositions
for this instrument, exhibiting the influence of musicians such as Brazil's Egberto Gismonti
and Mali's Toumani Diabate. It could be said that the music that Gripper creates is South
Africa's answer to musicians such as Gismonti and Heitor Villa Lobos: classical trained
musicians from the �South� who have used their skills to develop new directions in the
music of their home countries. It is also interesting to note that many of the European or
American composers that he was initially attracted to were profoundly influenced by
African music, using its complex cyclical structures and collectivity as the basis for new
movements in twentieth century music.
Derek has collaborated with tabla player Udai Mazumdar in a new CD called Rising.
Discography (all available from www.newcape.co.za):
Sagtevlei 2002
Blomdoorns 2003
Ayo 2008
Songs for the Swans Left Behind 2008 vinyl
Ale!x 2009
Blomdoorns remaster 2009
Kai Kai 2009
Rising 2010
Derek Gripper has performed in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, India, Namibia and
all over South Africa.