His interpretation is Bach as you’ve never heard it before: beautifully phrased yet free of strictly annotated time. Likewise, West African music – a lot of which Gripper has single-handedly transcribed over a period of more than 10 years from the 21-string kora (or harp lute) to the six-string classical guitar.
“West African music, the music of Mali, doesn’t follow the Western concept of mechanical time. It follows the rhythms of life, of the body, of the wind in the trees, of the desert,” he explains.
On his numerous visits to…