CANCELLED: Abdullah Ibrahim

Abdullah Ibrahim is a legend. Born in Cape Town in 1934, the now 85-year-old pianist was mainly influenced by the gospel music that his mother and grandmother listened to. Ibrahim soon began experimenting with local music, but he was just as fascinated by American jazz. When bebop arrived in South Africa, it was not long before he was one of the country’s top beboppers, in those days still appearing under the artist’s name »Dollar Brand«. In the early 1960s, Ibrahim fled the Apartheid system and moved to Europe. He was discovered by jazz legend Duke Ellington, went on tour with the Ellington band, and all of a sudden he was world-famous. His song »Mannenberg« later became the unofficial anthem of the anti-Apartheid movement. In the Elbphilharmonie, Abdullah Ibrahim can now be heard with music from his latest album: »Dream Time« is a thoughtful, one-hour-long, non-stop piece where Ibrahim shows one more time that he can make complex music sound pleasantly simple.