Mannenberg
"Mannenberg" is a classic of South African marabi-influenced Cape jazz, composed by Abdullah Ibrahim and first recorded in 1974. Released under Ibrahim's former name Dollar Brand on the vinyl album Mannenberg - "Is Where It's Happening" (featuring just two long cuts), the title track is particularly notable for the saxophone solo by Basil "Manenberg" Coetzee, for which he earned his nickname.[1] Inspired by and named after the Cape Flats township of Manenberg (although spelled differently), it was an instant hit and later became identified with the struggle against apartheid, "a beloved anthem of hope and resistance for many South Africans".[2]
Mannenberg - Is Where It's Happening
The producer was Rashid Vally and the recording was made in June 1974 in a studio in Cape Town, "against a backdrop of forced removals as the apartheid government finalised its destruction of District Six and evicted coloured families from homes throughout the city".[2] Asked in an interview how the title came about, Ibrahim said: "Because Basil[3] was from Manenberg and for us Manenberg was just symbolic of the removal out of District Six, which is actually the removal of everybody from everywhere in the world, and Manenberg specifically because… it signifies, it’s our music, and it’s our culture…"[4]
Personnel
- Dollar Brand (Abdullah Ibrahim) - piano
- Paul Micheals [sic] - bass
- Basil Coetzee - tenor sax & flute
- Robbie Jansen - alto sax & flute
- Monty Weber - drums
- Composed and arranged by Dollar Brand
- Photography by Dollar Brand
- Publisher - As-Shams
Tracks
Side 1
"Mannenberg" (Abdullah Ibrahim) - 13:36
Side 2
"The Pilgrim" (Abdullah Ibrahim) - 13:00
Other recordings
When the album was first released in the United States its name was changed to Cape Town Fringe. The Mannenberg sessions were subsequently released on Abdullah Ibrahim's Voice of Africa album.[5]
A shorter version of the song, "Mannenberg (Revisited)", appears on his album Water from an Ancient Well, released in 1986.
The album African Tributes by Darius Brubeck & the Nu Jazz Connection features Abdullah Ibrahim's "Mannenberg/The Wedding" as track 4.[6] Other artists to have recorded "Mannenberg" include Jonathan Butler and Joe McBride.
Legacy
The place where "Mannenberg" was recorded is commemorated with an abstract sculpture of seven stainless-steel pipes, mounted outside the building where the original studios were. Designed by electrical engineer Mark O'Donovan (of Odd Enjinears) and performance artist Francois Venter, the pipes have been tuned to correspond to the first seven notes of the melody, and are inscribed with the instruction: "Run a stick along these pipes to hear Mannenberg".[7][8]
References
- ↑ "Farewell to a musical legend", Sunday Tribune, 15 March 1998.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sunday Times Heritage Project.
- ↑ McDonald, Steven, "Basil Coetzee biography" at Allmusic
- ↑ "I write what I know best" - interview with Abdullah Ibrahim by Sue Valentine, Sunday Times Heritage Project.
- ↑ Abdullah Ibrahim - Mannenberg.
- ↑ Darius Brubeck, African Tributes, 1995.
- ↑ "The Light Bulb Moment: The Artists' Concept", Sunday Times Heritage Project.
- ↑ Mannenberg sculpture, Odd Enjinears website.
External links
- Adullah Ibrahim filmed in 1987 describing how the iconic track "Mannenberg" came into being and performing it live. Taken from the BBC Arena film A Brother with Perfect Timing.
- John Edwin Mason, "'Mannenberg': Notes on the Making of an Icon and Anthem", African Studies Quarterly, Volume 9, Issue 4, Fall 2007.
- "A national anthem", Sunday Times Heritage Project.
- "I write what I know best" - interview with Abdullah Ibrahim by Sue Valentine, Sunday Times Heritage Project.
- Musical interlude: Abdullah Ibrahim's Mannenberg (Is Where It's Happening), Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
- ABDULLAH IBRAHIM / “Mannenberg Is Where It’s Happening”, Kalamu ya Salaam, Breath of Life.