The iconic South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim makes a grand return on stage after a five-year absence to give a series of landmark concerts in April 2024.
The landmark South African tour will be earmarked by an opening performance on Friday, April 12 in Cape Town where he first professionally performed aged just 16 at the iconic City Hall. This will be followed by his second performance at the mega busy SunBet Arena at Time Square in Menlyn, Pretoria on Sunday, April 14.
Music, however, is not the only in the Cape Town-born music legend’s mind, he’s also unveiling his new foundation, he said. “To be launching my M7 Foundation in Johannesburg, playing concerts in Pretoria’s new state-of-the-art arena and uniquely returning to performing inside City Hall – an illustrious venue I first played at aged 16 for a segregated audience – is something that at one time was unimaginable. I am honoured and thrilled to have the opportunity,”
Over the course of his career, Ibrahim has performed with the greatest names to ever emerge from South Africa’s legendary jazz scene including his work with Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Jonas Gwangwa, Kippie Moeketsi and many more.
“As I embrace my 90th year, I am delighted to be undertaking these concerts…for me, they are a deeply personal dream – envisaged first many years ago. Perhaps when as a free South African I bought land, or perhaps so many years before that when I was forced to exile? But certainly, I was thrown into sharp relief during the Covid pandemic, when I wondered if, or when, I would see “home again,” added Ibrahim.
The world-acclaimed musician recently dropped his latest album, ‘Entitled 3‘, a recording of two sets from London’s Barbican Hall in the UK. Cleave Guyton Jr (on flute and piccolo), Noah Jackson (on bass and cello) make up the trio and are featured on both sets with Ibrahim. The album includes the much-loved tracks ‘Nisa‘, ‘Barakat‘ and many more and comprises both the London performances.
The concerts in South Africa form part of a world tour for Ibrahim as he visits cities and cultures that were pivotal in his exiled life.
