CURATION
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from this page:
by Matrix
Network Node
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Name:
Abdullah Ibrahim
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City/Place:
Chiemgau
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Country:
Germany
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Hometown:
Cape Town, South Africa
Life
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Bio:
Abdullah Ibrahim, the eminent pianist from South Africa and a globally respected master musician, was born in 1934 in Cape Town under the name Adolph Johannes Brand. His early musical influences were shaped by traditional African Khoi-san songs and the Christian hymns, gospel tunes, and spirituals that resonated through his grandmother's piano at the local African Methodist Episcopalian church. Growing up in the culturally diverse Cape Town of his childhood, he was immersed in a rich blend of American jazz, township jive, Cape Malay music, and classical melodies, all of which contributed to the unique style, harmonies, and musical language that would become distinctly his own.
Starting piano lessons at the age of seven, he made his professional debut at fifteen, playing and recording with local groups like the Tuxedo Slickers. A pioneer in Cape Town's bebop scene, he formed the Dollar Brand Trio in 1958. The Jazz Epistles, a groundbreaking septet he formed in 1959, recorded South Africa's first jazz album. In 1960, following the Sharpeville massacre, political tensions led to the closure of clubs, and many musicians faced harassment. Seeking refuge abroad, Abdullah Ibrahim and his wife, vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin, left South Africa in 1962 for a musical journey in Europe.
The pivotal year 1968 marked a turning point in his life. Returning to Cape Town, he converted to Islam, adopting the name Abdullah Ibrahim, and embarked on a spiritual journey. After establishing a music school in Swaziland, he returned to Cape Town in 1973. The iconic "Mannenberg – ‘Is where it’s happening’" was recorded in 1974, becoming an unofficial anthem for black South Africans. Following the Soweto student uprising in 1976, he organized an illegal ANC benefit concert, prompting his relocation to the United States.
In 1981, Abdullah Ibrahim and Sathima founded the record company Ekapa, signaling a determination to manage their own affairs in America. Throughout the 1980s, he engaged in various artistic projects, collaborating with renowned artists and contributing to ballets and operas. In 1990, Mandela's invitation prompted his return to South Africa, and he performed at Mandela's inauguration in 1994.
Beyond his extensive touring and collaborations, Abdullah Ibrahim's impact extends to film scores, documentaries, and his involvement in the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra in 2006. Celebrating his seventieth birthday in 2004, he released two CDs and continued his commitment to education through the establishment of the M7 music academy.
Presently, Abdullah Ibrahim divides his time between Cape Town and New York, remaining a prominent figure in the global music scene. His legacy encompasses over a hundred album credits, reflecting a lifetime dedicated to the pursuit of musical excellence and cultural enrichment.
Clips (more may be added)
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
Wolfram Mathematics
Bahia was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other place on earth throughout all of human history...refuge for Sephardim fleeing the Inquisition...Indigenous both apart and subsumed into a sociocultural matrix which is all of these: a small-world matrix (see Wolfram). Human society, the billions of us, is small-world. Neural structures for human memory are small-world. This technological matrix positioning creators around the world within reach of each other and the entire planet is able to do so because it is also small-world...
In small worlds great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"I'm truly thankful ... Sohlangana ngokuzayo :)"
—Nduduzo Makhathini (JOHANNESBURG): piano, Blue Note recording artist
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
Dear friends & colleagues,
Having arrived in Salvador 13 years earlier, I opened a record shop in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for Bahian musicians, many of them magisterial but unknown.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Bahians and other Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix (people who have passed are not removed), then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Recent access to this matrix and Bahia are from these places (a single marker can denote multiple accesses).
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL
Nduduzo Makhathini
Susan Rogers
Julian Lloyd Webber
Clarice Assad
Kamasi Washington
Randy Brecker
Matt Garrison
RÁDIO MATRIX