Abdullah Ibrahim – African Landscapes

The South African jazz musician began his now 50-year-long career in Johannesburg, where his first listeners were gangsters in smoke-filled clubs. Later, in New York, his friends included America’s most famous jazz musicians, among them Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. The variety of Abdullah Ibrahim’s music and musical activities is all but inexhaustible – ranging from solo piano to the band Ekaya, with whom he makes his Abu Dhabi Classics debut. In his concerts he draws on a repertoire of over 700 compositions, which despite their stylistic diversity are linked by one thing: the depth of the musical emotions.

It would be mistaken to pigeonhole Abdullah Ibrahim as „only“ a jazz musician: he brings together jazz, world music and the classics as well as their followers. Like a storyteller he depicts great expanses of the African landscapes in his music; every piece has its own story, not unlike the late Romantic idea of the symphonic poem. He has been uniquely successful in combining African musical roots with American jazz of the 20th century. His friend and colleague Duke Ellington once told him that as an African he had the special good fortune of being able to draw directly from the source.Abdullah Ibrahim’s first jazz concert in the United Arab Emirates will take place in the luxurious Emirates Palace.