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Abdullah Ibrahim Albums
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About This Artist
Driven into exile by the apartheid government, Ibrahim had been living in Europe and the United States during the s and '70s, making brief visits to South Africa to record music. After a successful collaboration with producer Rashid Vally and a band that included Basil Coetzee and Robbie Jansen , Ibrahim began to record another album with these three collaborators and a backing band assembled by Coetzee. The song was recorded during a session of improvisation, and includes a saxophone solo by Coetzee, which led to him receiving the sobriquet "Manenberg". The piece incorporates elements of several other musical styles, including marabi , ticky-draai , and langarm , and became a landmark in the development of the genre of Cape jazz. The song has been described as having a beautiful melody and catchy beat, conveying themes of "freedom and cultural identity. Named after the township of Manenberg , it was an instant hit, selling tens of thousands of copies within a few months of its release. It later became identified with the struggle against apartheid , partly due to Jansen and Coetzee playing it at rallies against the government, and was among the movement's most popular songs in the s. The piece has been covered by other musicians, and has been included on several jazz collections. Abdullah Ibrahim was born in Cape Town in Before his conversion to Islam in , he was known as "Dollar Brand".
Abdullah grew up in one of the designated black areas outside of Cape Town in a home filled with music and in a family deeply involved in the AME church. Abdullah Ibrahim: What happened was it was apartheid system. We were robbed of our traditional belief system.