Abdullah Ibrahim is South Africa’s most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician. Born in Cape Town, Dollar Brand, as he became known, was exposed to a melting pot of cultural influences: African traditional music, Christian hymns, gospel tunes and spirituals, as well as American jazz, township and classical music. Out of this blend of the secular and religious, the traditional and the modern, Abdullah Ibrahim’s distinctive sound and musical vocabulary was born. His grandmother arranged for him to have piano lessons at the age of six. She was also a founding member of the AME church, a branch of the original church in Philadelphia, USA. His mother was the church pianist and played piano for silent movies at the local cinema. The restrictions of access to the learning establishment forced the young knowledge seeker and budding composer to spend hours and days at Cape Town libraries reading and studying all inclusive works of global masters in culture, music, philosophy and world history.