Abdullah Ibrahim is coming to Berlin for a rare solo piano concert at the Haus des Rundfunks on November 29, 2022. The South African musician is one of the great jazz pianists of the 20th century. Today, he could be called the Ludovici Einaudi of Oberbayern – for some years now, the 86-year-old Ibrahim has been living at Chiemsee. He said he played his first note with his index finger when he was six years old. »Eighty years later, I have at least managed to play with all ten fingers,« Ibrahim told Bayrischer Rundfunk.

Follow the index finger

In the 1960s, Abdullah Ibrahim escaped the apartheid regime. Later, Duke Ellington finds him in a Zurich café. He calls himself Dollar Brand, and the composition »Mannenberg« becomes the anthem of resistance against racial segregation in his motherland. When he plays for the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994, Abdullah Ibrahim has long been a star. He has played with jazz legends such as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor. 700 pieces follow »his index finger« alone, which in his culture stands for the unity of the world.

Abdullah Ibrahim can be seen playing the solo piano on November 29, 2022 in the Großer Sendesaal at the Haus des Rundfunks in Berlin.