DEREK GRIPPER BENEFIT CONCERT – A LIVESTREAM IN SUPPORT OF THE CLOVELLY CAN

ABOUT

On Wednesday the 9th of December at 8pm (SAST), one of the world’s greatest guitarists will be performing in a live-streamed benefit concert to raise funds for the Clovelly CAN.

The Clovelly Community Action Network (CAN) is part of the broader Cape Town Together (CTT) movement and supports two partnerships – one in Wesbank and the other through the Ocean View Organic Farm – to support sustainable hunger relief and build long-term resilience.

Derek Gripper’s music is found at an unprecedented meeting point between the written tradition of Western classical music and the oral tradition of the West African griots. It took Derek untold hours to transcribe note-for-note the complex compositions of Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté and find a way of playing them on six-string guitar. The results have been described as “absolutely impossible”, “staggering” and having a “depthless beauty”.

Join us for an evening of exquisite music and support the Clovelly CAN’s ongoing work with our partners.

Clovelly CAN |  www.facebook.com/ClovellyCAN/

Derek Gripper | www.derekgripper.com & @derekgripper

For enquiries email, [email protected]

8PM, Cape Town | 6PM, London | 1PM, NYC | 10AM, Los Angeles

“Five stars… Gripper has brilliantly transferred [the kora] repertoire onto a regular six string guitar. He sees [Toumani] Diabaté as the Segovia, or indeed John Williams, of the kora, championing it as a solo instrument. And Gripper brilliantly takes it back to the guitar. He’s opening a whole new repertoire of classical guitar music… bringing African guitar into the classical mainstream.”

— SIMON BROUGHTON

“Gripper has cracked it… his playing has a depthless beauty, which does full justice to the complexity of Toumani’s compositions. To do so without any hint of the music being dumbed down is a staggering achievement on solo guitar.”

— NIGEL WILLIAMSON, SONGLINES MAGAZINE