The charismatic Abdullah Ibrahim is South Africa's most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician. He releases the solo piano album 'The Song Is My Story' to celebrate his 80th birthday, 2014 also marks 20 years since the end of apartheid. <p>Abdullah Ibrahim visited Sacile, Italy in the summer of 2014, played on the legendary "Fazioli" grand piano and visited the workshop where these pianos are crafted. There is a concert hall in Sacile with fantastic instruments, which sound as if they were created especially for Ibrahim. He recorded this CD there, a mixture of free improvisations and performances of his classic compositions such as a "For Coltrane" and "African Dawn". Fortunately, professional films were shot during those days, so 'The Song Is My Story' also includes a DVD with concert excerpts, as well as conversations with Abdullah Ibrahim.</p> <p>Ibrahim explains his approach to creating music in the liner notes: "There are people who can only play if they have sheet music. But we others improvise without knowing where we are headed. This makes us free. We don't fear situations that we don't know. We have a song, rhythm, harmony and pitch, and then we start to play with that, turn everything upside down...We jazz musicians are not afraid of letting things take their course."</p> <p>Personnel: Abdullah Ibrahim (piano)</p> <p>"The humble high priest of international jazz." - The Guardian</p>
