Venatoria Network

Abdullah Ibrahim`s music has long served as a link between between those who were in exile during the apartheid and their home country South Africa. When the appartheid fell, Abdullah Ibrahim notes kept uniting the jagged South African population. Abdullah Ibrahim, born in Cape Town in 1934, reflects in his music a multi-cultural background. He grew up listening to a diverse music encountered arround the port, from the traditional African music, to the church gospel, and jazz LPs brought by American sailors, and later on he became a world traveller as he spent years touring North America, Europe, and Japan.

If I was a nation my anthem would be "The mountain of the night", just like the Swedish communist party adopted "African marketplace". The piece is a catalyst of a journey that strengthens and heals. "The mountain of the night" is a discussion in the language of Abdullah Ibrahim's piano that embodies the spirit of africa and western music with structure and harmony. His notes engage in a fancy exchange with African drums and a string orchestra that beatifully leaves us wondering whether we should ever stop the music.

That is Abdullah Ibrahim's notes, consume it, and shared it with the world, smoke it and blow it in the face of agony...it will fade away!

I came across this social project, and it is not the only one, that portrays how music can make change, not just by offering a social refuge, but also by fostering youth's skills and creativity. If you are ever wandering around Manenberg go pay a visit to these heroes!