Recently, he played at the Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg in Germany; a newspaper headline called the concert “a quiet prayer”. He says it is a remarkable venue, an intergrated music platform that offers a broad range of musical presentation. “It’s probably one of the most iconic music venues in the world that we are blessed to have.”
Although his latest tour is around Europe and North America, Ibrahim is no stranger to African shores. “Mozambique is very special, because of the interconnected legacy we have. Swaziland (now eSwatini) for example, I stayed there for about four or five years; in Senegal, I was resident for about three or four years. We had this excellent relationship that we established with the local culture and musicians. And of course with the drum culture. There was a drummer, Doudou N’Diaye Rose, and he had a drum choir of about 100 people, if not more – men and women.” Some years ago, Ibrahim took his New York band Ekaya to visit the Northern Cape province in South Africa and meet about 20 traditional local family groups.
