Abdullah Ibrahim - Mannenberg

For the first time ever, Abdullah Ibrahim, formally known as Dollar Brand, went to Robin Island, where Mandela was imprisoned. All forms of music were banned. A lawyer smuggled one of Abdullah's songs into the control room, blocked the doors and played it over the loud speakers. Mandela's first sound of music in decades.

• Category

  Music

[artist4africa]

@holskop. It is not a blatant lie. It is a policy that they removed after the lawyer smuggled in this album...I think. This is a story told to me by Abdullah and the tour guide at the prison during our visit. I think they would know what they're talking about.

[franker95]

i love this piece i am tring to learn it but its realy difficult but mabe it is because i am only 13 but stil it is amazing:D

[frans teffo]

GREAT MUSIC INDEED.

[Domenico Elia]

Ho avuto la fortuna di vederlo qualche tempo fa a Catanzaro, in Calabria, Italia. Credo di essere fortunato, il suo sound dal livo è a dir poco incantevole..  :)

[Sheila W]

I was a teenager in the early 70s. My friends and I 'bunked' out of our bedroom windows one night and made our way to the city and to a little club called The Factory off Greenmarket Square. Dollar Brand (as he was then known) was playing. What a great experience! I wonder if it was the same place you remembered? ...

[mogatsamasego]

Ke tshabile Setswana. Le mo YouTube se teng?

[Steve Bloom]

I love this piece of music so much and remember sitting on the floor with my back against the upright piano while Abdullah Ibrahim played Manenberg in a small venue in Cape Town in the 1970s and I felt the vibrations in my back. My photography exhibition of South Africa in the 1970s forThe London Festival of Photography features pictures taken in Manenberg.

[mankone2]

This song We used to say "Makoti o tshwana le Pere; o se ka ntshwara matheka" hope my tswana spelling is readable t you!!!!"O ska ntshwara matheka" Good music.

[holskop]

You are absolutely correct. The poltical prisoners had 100's of LP's and music was played to them from the control room situated close to B-section where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. It is a blatant lie to say that music was banned.

[jthornejnr]

Artist and his music set aside, the introduction is quite untrue, unfounded and false. Music was always a part of the Island political prisoner's incarceration. They had music concerts as arranged by themselves and also had records played. The music, though Long Playing Records, used by the correctional staff to broadcast music for the inmates. What might have happened as you say, smuggled in, but most certainly NOT the first time Madiba heard music on the Island or in prison. Truth be told! :)