Derek Gripper & Rahim AlHaj - Santa Fe, NM

Name: Derek Gripper & Rahim AlHaj - Santa Fe, NM
Start: 2025-02-06T19:30:00-07:00
Location: St. Francis Auditorium

Schedule

Thu, 06 Feb, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

St. Francis Auditorium | Santa Fe, NM

TICKETS
$29–44
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PUBLIC SALE: Fri, Dec 12, 10 am
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VENUE ST. FRANCIS AUDITORIUM AT THE NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART
ALCOHOL: No
SEATING: Yes
OUTSIDE FOOD/DRINK: No
PARKING: Street parking and paid parking lot across the street
ADA: Yes, please notify us of any accommodations prior to the show

South African guitarist Derek Gripper and Iraqi oud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj perform together for the first time for a three-night run of international string stylings! You can also catch them at the Taos Center For The Arts on February 7 and in Albuquerque at the KiMo Theatre on February 8.

RAHIM ALHAJ
Oud virtuoso Rahim AlHaj is a 2x Grammy nominee, NEA National Heritage Fellow and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist. Hailed as "one of the top oud players in the world" by the San Francisco Chronicle, Rahim AlHaj is a performer and composer who combines a 5,000-year-old tradition from the heart of Mesopotamia with contemporary influences. The oud is a fretless, short-necked Arabian lute central to Iraqi music. It is an ancestor of the lute family of instruments that includes the guitar. AlHaj is a cultural ambassador for the deep musical heritage of his homeland. His music evokes the experience of exile, new beginnings, and “the message of peace and compassion and love” that he shares with audiences to heal a world beset by conflict.

DEREK GRIPPER
It took Derek Gripper untold hours of painstaking work 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 appeared on his ninth album, “One Night on Earth,” an unprecedented meeting point between the written tradition of Western classical music and the oral tradition of the West African griots. On hearing the album classical guitar legend John Williams said he thought it was “absolutely impossible until I heard Derek Gripper do it". Ever since, Gripper has taken his well-traveled instrument into previously unimagined realms, with worldwide touring leading to performances and collaborations with Ballake Sissoko, Kaki King, John Williams, Debashish Bhattacharya, and Toumani Diabate with over twenty studio records, both solo and in collaboration. His most recent record is with kora master Ballaké Sissoko.