Africa is a Country

‘A tall, gangling brown man from Cape Town, Dollar Brand sits with his head and body bent double over the keyboard, a posture which often makes him look like a conquering emperor taking off his boots. Indeed in South Africa during the proud seminal years of “underground jazz” Dollar Brand would almost inevitably appear on any stage in a pair of ungainly infantry boots which came in handy in after hour “joints” when arguments sometimes needed to be settled physically. To this day those who can recall the event still speak with awe of how Dollar used his boots to defend Kippie Moeketsi, a famous saxophonist and dear friend of his at a Johannesburg party.’

– in “Jazz in Exile,” Transition, 24, 1966, p34.

I just read the piece and wanted to copy the whole piece, but have to respect fair use. You can order back issues of the magazine here.For a more contemporary exploration of Ibrahim’s world, see historian John Edward Mason’s riff on the making of the tune Mannenberg (a version of the piece will also appear in the upcoming issue of Chimurenga Magazine.