JOHANNESBURG: World-renowned South African jazz pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim died on Monday at the age of 91 in Germany, his family announced in a statement.

The pianist, who recorded more than 70 albums “passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family in Germany, after a short illness,” the family said. Ibrahim began

his professional career at the age of 15 before being discovered in 1963 in a Zurich club by American jazz pianist Duke Ellington. In 1965, Ibrahim and his wife moved to New York, where he fronted the Duke Ellington Orchestra on several occasions.

By the 1960s, jazz had come to symbolise resistance against apartheid because of its mixed-race bands and audiences — and the hardline segregationist government was cracking down.

Ibrahim and his future wife, jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, decided to leave, taking up a contract to play at a club in the Swiss city of Zurich.

There he was discovered in 1963 by US jazz pianist Ellington, who was so impressed that he took the South African to a recording session in Paris. Invitations to perform followed.

In 1965, Ibrahim and his wife moved to New York, where he fronted the Duke Ellington Orchestra on several occasions, studied at the Juilliard School of Music and mixed with other jazz artists.

Three years later, the couple returned to Cape Town and he converted to Islam, taking the name Abdullah Ibrahim.

In 1974, he recorded the iconic “Mannenberg — ‘Is Where It’s Happening’” which became an anthem against apartheid.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2026