A Trip to Mannenberg

The wonderful South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim tells about the origin of his beautiful, meditative composition “Mannenberg” in the BBC video below. First we get to hear him playing a bit of it in a solo context. Then the camera follows the pianist into the New York jazz club Sweet Basil, where he performs the tune with his band Ekayah. Oh, why couldn’t I have been there that night?

I think if everybody listened to this song once in a while, the world would be a much more peaceful place.

On February 11, 2004–38 years after the the South African government rezoned District Six as a “whites-only” area–former president Nelson Mandela welcomed the first returning residents, Ebrahim Murat (aged 87) and Dan Ndzabela (82), and handed them their keys.


Apartheid Sign, District Six Museum, Capetown, South Africa
photo courtesy of Trip Advisor
District Six Memory Plaque, Capetown, S.A.
photo courtesy of 972 Magazine

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.