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Duke Arts Presents

Artist-in-Residence: Abdullah Ibrahim

Thursday, October 15, 2015 | 12:00 pm


A LIFE IN JAZZ: ABDULLAH IBRAHIM

Duke professor and acclaimed poet Nathaniel Mackey talks with South African jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim about his wide-ranging career in music. Ibrahim plays with his ensemble Ekaya on Friday, October 16 at Baldwin Auditorium.

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Since signing his first record deal in 1964, South African jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim has made a staggering fifty-two albums as pianist and bandleader and has played a central role in his country’s twentieth-century musical and political landscape. Born into the rich culture of pre-Apartheid Cape Town, Ibrahim absorbed the songs of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the burgeoning marabi tradition in the townships, and, of course, American jazz. The result is a musical voice that is at once intellectual and deeply felt. After a 2014 performance at New York’s Schomburg Center, Ben Ratliff of The New York Times said of the music, “It reached the audience as if it were a music never heard before, and did so by degrees: first like a history lesson, then like a party, then like a deep and serious matter.”

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Thursday, October 15, 12 – 1 PM
Forum for Scholars & Publics, 011 Old Chemistry Building, Duke West Campus (Directions)
Free & open to the public; a light lunch will be served for all attendees starting at 11:45 AM.

A part of Talking Music: Conversations with Scholars, Writers, Archivists, and Artists, co-sponsored by Duke Performances, Forum for Scholars & Publics, and Duke Africa Initiative.