Schedule

After celebrating its 25th anniversary last year, the New York Guitar Festival launches into its second quarter-century with an all-star lineup and an expanding range of venues. On Thursday, June 26, New York audiences will have their first opportunity to hear the new duo of Derek Gripper, the South African guitarist, and Rahim Al-Haj, the Iraqi-born, American-based master of the Arab oud.  That meeting of related string instruments will take place at Merkin Hall, where the Guitar Festival began in 1999. 

South African guitarist Derek Gripper and the Iraqi-American oud virtuoso Rahim Al-Haj offer a kind of musical family affair, as the Arab oud is generally considered to be the ancestor of the modern guitar.  Gripper earned international acclaim (and more than a few “how did he do that?” reactions) for his collection of West African kora music, transcribed from that 21-string harp to a standard 6-string classical guitar.  Al-Haj has taken the centuries-old tradition of Arab classical music and blended it with the sounds of contemporary Western music.  Both have long lists of collaborators, including Gripper’s album with American world music cellist Mike Block and Al-Haj’s work with the Native American poet Joy Harjo.  2025 marks the first year that their global musical orbits come together.