Abdullah Ibrahim in Four Solo Performances at the Fugard Theatre

Following a sold out performance at the Fugard Theatre earlier this year, Eric Abraham and the Fugard Theatre present four solo piano concerts by global music icon and South African legend Abdullah Ibrahim.

Hot on the heels of his much-lauded appearance at the thirtieth annual Oslo Jazz Festival in Norway, these will be Ibrahim's only other solo piano concerts in Cape Town in 2016. The special performances will be a brand new presentation of new and older compositions spanning nearly seventy years of a remarkable career, which all began in Kensington and District Six at the age of seven.

Ibrahim is South Africa's most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician. Born in 1934 in Cape Town and baptised Adolph Johannes Brand, his early musical memories were of traditional African Khoisan songs and the Christian hymns, gospel tunes and spirituals that he heard from his grandmother, who was the pianist for the local African Methodist Episcopalian church, and his mother, who led the choir. The Cape Town of his childhood was a melting-pot of cultural influences, and the young Dollar Brand, as he became known, was exposed to American jazz, township jive, Cape Malay music and classical music. Out of this blend of the secular and the religious, the traditional and the modern, developed the distinctive style, harmonies and musical vocabulary that are inimitably his own. Abdullah Ibrahim celebrated his seventieth birthday in October 2004, which occasion was marked by the release of two CDs by Enja Records, the Munich-based label with whom he has recorded for three decades: the compilation A CELEBRATION and RE:BRAHIM, his music remixed. His discography runs to well over a hundred album credits.

Founding Producer and Owner of the Fugard Theatre, Eric Abraham says:

We are honoured to be hosting these rare and limited performances in Cape Town by Abdullah Ibrahim in the heart of his original home in District Six.

The concerts will take place from 20 - 22 October at 20:00 and on 23 October at 16:00 at the Fugard Theatre, situated on the corner of Harrington and Caledon Streets in District Six, Cape Town. Tickets range from R120 - R250 and can be booked online at Computicket, by phone on 0861 915 8000 or at any Shoprite/Checkers outlet. Bookings can also be made at the Fugard Theatre's box office on 021 461 4554. There is a generous 15% discount available for the Friends of the Fugard members.

The Harrington Street Car Park is located at the corner of Caledon and Harrington streets and is available for the use of theatre patrons, who are inviated to visit the cosy ground-floor bar, where delicious snacks are also available, and which opens two hours before all scheduled show times and stays open until last rounds are called. If the weather is fine, the bar on the fantastic rooftop terrace, with its panoramic views of the city, is opened. Both bars offer a range of wines from some of the Cape's top estates.

To post a comment, you must register and login.