WATCH: Abdullah Ibrahim performs at City Hall 70 years after first performance
After a five year hiatus, the legendary pianist and composer was back on stage in Cape Town.
South Africa's most distinguished pianist and internationally respected master musician Abdullah Ibrahim. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/ Eyewitness News.
Abdullah Ibrahim took Cape Town by storm on Friday evening, 12 April with a performance at the City Hall on the same stage where he made his musical debut at 16 - more than 70 years ago.
Ibrahim sits down with Eyewitness News and Lester Kiewit to speak about his legacy and the meanings of some of his iconic songs and folktales.
Ibrahim says he learnt to play piano from his mom who was a pianist and organist.
"My mother played piano for silent movies. As a young boy, I slipped in through the back to watch her."
- Abdullah Ibrahim
Ibrahim continued to say that garnering fame throughout his 75-year career wasn't the plan.
"We don't do this because we want to attain fame, its got nothing to do with that. When composing, write about what you know best... what I know best is my family, friends, people around me, where I grew up, the narrative of the history of Cape Town."
- Abdullah Ibrahim
Ibrahim says his life's work is attributed to women in his life, particularly his grandmother who renamed him so he could have an "easier passage" through life.
"In our narrative in South Africa, the keepers are the grandmothers. The grandmothers are the ones who kept all of this together - they are incredible people. My name is on my ID card, it says Adolph Johannes Brand - it's not me. My name is Sentso, my father was Sotho - so where did I get this name from? It was my grandmother who gave me this identity so I could have an easier passage. As a young black boy, how was I going to negotiate my way through all of this? With another identity..."
- Abdullah Ibrahim
Ibrahim continues to say that his life's work and music has been a dedication to women, grandmothers and the people who hold things together when things are falling apart.
"And this is what we're struggling with here... all of us are stuck in an identity that we are not and we believe it. Thank God DNA has landed in Cape Town so now you can really know who you are. So the dedication is to women, grandmothers and the people who hold this fragile thing of ourselves and our communities together."
- Abdullah Ibrahim
Can't watch? Listen to the full interview below.