18/06/2026
We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim. Also known as Dollar Brand, his music draws on the diverse sounds of his childhood in Cape Town’s multicultural port districts. Traditional African song, AME Church gospel, ragas, alongside modern jazz and other Western idioms.
Ibrahim is widely regarded as the leading figure of Cape jazz, with Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington standing out as his principal jazz influences. He is best known for “Mannenberg,” a composition that became an enduring anthem of the anti-apartheid movement.
During the apartheid era in the 1960s, Ibrahim moved to New York City and, apart from a brief return to South Africa in the 1970s, remained in exile until the early 1990s. Over the decades, he toured the world extensively, appearing at major venues either as a solo artist or playing with other renowned musicians, including Max Roach, Carlos Ward and Randy Weston, as well as collaborating with classical orchestras in Europe.
