CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS UBUNTU: MUSIC AND ARTS OF SOUTH AFRICA A CITYWIDE FESTIVAL EXPLORING SOUTH AFRICAN ARTS & CULTURE October 8 to November 5, 2014

Carnegie Hall’s month-long, citywide UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa festival enters its second week on Friday, October 17 at 8:30 p.m., when renowned South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim performs a solo concert in Zankel Hall coinciding with his 80th birthday. A fearless champion of the Cape jazz tradition and widely hailed as one of the genre’s greatest exponents, Ibrahim passionately railed against the apartheid regime both in his music and in action. He spent decades in exile from South Africa and also recorded Mannenberg Is Where It’s Happening, what would become known as an unofficial anthem for black South Africans about the notorious clearing of a creole working class township—home to many artists and musicians—by the Apartheid regime. Ibrahim was invited to return to South Africa by Nelson Mandela after he was released from prison in 1990.

In addition to his solo performance in Zankel Hall, Ibrahim leads a master class for young professional jazz musicians presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute on Saturday, October 18 at 5:00 p.m. in Carnegie Hall’s new Resnick Education Wing. He also gives a free performance at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem with members of his trio, the septet Ekaya, and his big band on Monday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m. as part of Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concert series, presented by the Weill Music Institute.

The UBUNTU festival continues on Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. when multiple Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo performs a program entitled Voices of South Africa in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage alongside special guest artists including the six-woman South African and African American a cappella vocal ensemble, Thokoza, and backed renowned South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo’s band. Known for singing in the Zulu men’s a cappella style known as isicathamiya, Ladysmith Black Mambazo was formed in the early 1960s when they won a number of singing competitions in South Africa before rising to international prominence in the mid-1980s. The group takes its name from Shabalala’s hometown of Ladysmith, with black being a reference to oxen and mambazo being the Zulu word for “chopping axe”—a symbol of the group’s ability to chop down any singing rival that might challenge them.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo returns the following afternoon on Sunday, October 19 at 1:00 p.m. for a lively Family Concert in Zankel Hall presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. The concert is designed for children ages 5-12, and features a pre-concert activity presented by Charlotte Blake Alston in the Resnick Education Wing starting at noon.

Carnegie Hall’s UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa festival takes place from October 8 to November 5, 2014, and features an exciting array of events to be presented at Carnegie Hall and partner venues throughout New York City, inviting audiences to explore the incredibly dynamic and diverse culture of South Africa. For a complete festival press kit, please click here.

Throughout the UBUNTU festival, an exhibition in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall lobby, entitled Johannesburg in Print, celebrates the expression of South Africa’s visual arts community through the medium of printmaking. The displayed works were created in the city of Johannesburg and highlight the vibrant David Krut Print Workshop, which has fostered a creative community of emerging and established artists in South Africa for more than a decade.

UBUNTU extends throughout New York City, with festival programming at leading partner cultural institutions featuring music, dance, film, visual arts, panel discussions, and more. For a complete schedule, visit carnegiehall.org/SouthAfrica.

UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa
With its UBUNTU festival, Carnegie Hall salutes South Africa, a country with its dizzying patchwork of cultures, eleven official languages, and a cultural life like none other. Roughly translated as “I am because you are,” Ubuntu is a philosophy from Southern Africa that emphasizes the importance of community, a way of thinking that has influenced recent moves toward reconciliation and cultural inclusion in South Africa as fostered by South Africa’s former president, the late Nelson Mandela. The spirit of this philosophy is embodied in the festival’s programming, which features a varied lineup of artists representing the many threads that together make up the country’s musical culture.

“In creating the UBUNTU festival, we were inspired by the cultural life of this incredibly diverse country,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director. “It is a nation with a dynamic, often surprising culture like no other—the birthplace of larger-than-life musical presences like Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, Abdullah Ibrahim, and now, a seemingly endless array of vocal talent from every corner of the country. Our festival also comes twenty years after the first free elections in South Africa, an anniversary made even more resonant by the recent passing of Nelson Mandela. The country’s landscape continues to evolve, and this makes for fascinating explorations throughout the arts.”

Dedicated to Mr. Mandela’s legacy, the UBUNTU festival features Carnegie Hall performances by artists representing different musical traditions, including concerts paying tribute to notable South African icons and milestones. In addition to showcasing world-renowned South African musicians who are beloved the world over, festival programming will also provide a window for audiences into many kinds of South African music that may be less well-known: the powerful spirituality and dynamism of the maskandi music of the Zulu people, music from the Cape region including a Cape Malay choir and folk musicians from remote regions of the Karoo desert, and two thrilling generations of South African jazz artists. In addition, two critically-acclaimed South African classical vocalists will make their New York recital debuts as part of the festival. Looking beyond performances at Carnegie Hall, the UBUNTU festival will extend citywide through events at prestigious partner organizations, with programming showcasing visual art, film, and dance, as well as panel discussions featuring leading social and political voices on the significant cultural issues.

UBUNTU partners include: African Film Festival Inc.; Anna Zorina Gallery; Apollo Theater; David Krut Projects; Flushing Town Hall; Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture at Hostos Community College; Jazz at Lincoln Center; The Juilliard School; Keyes Art Projects; Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History; Marian Goodman Gallery; Mark Borghi Fine Art; The New Victory Theater; New York City Center; The New York Public Library; The Paley Center for Media; Queens College, City University of New York; Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; Ubuntu Education Fund; Weeksville Heritage Center; and the World Music Institute.

Carnegie Hall has launched a special UBUNTU festival website, carnegiehall.org/SouthAfrica, which will feature information on festival events, interviews with artists, videos introducing the music being performed, and other content designed to illuminate festival offerings. For a video overview of the festival, please click here.

UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa
WEEK TWO

Friday, October 17 at 8:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM, piano

Tickets: $49, $60
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Saturday, October 18 at 5:00 p.m.
Resnick Education Wing
ABDULLAH IBRAHIM MASTER CLASS

Workshops and master classes are made possible, in part, by Mr. and Mrs. Nicola Bulgari and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

Tickets: $15
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Saturday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO AND FRIENDS
Thokoza
Bakithi Kumalo Band
Additional guests to be announced

VOICES OF SOUTH AFRICA

Tickets: $35—$80
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Sunday, October 19 at 1:00 p.m.
Zankel Hall
CARNEGIE HALL FAMILY CONCERT: LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO

A pre-concert activity for ticket-holders will take place one hour before the performance in the Resnick Education Wing. Space is limited, and reservations are required.

Tickets: $12, $18

Carnegie Hall Family Concerts are made possible, in part, by endowment gifts from The Irene Diamond Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse Jr., and the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund.

Thanks to New York City Department of Homeless Services for supporting young fathers and their families at this concert.
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Monday, October 20 at 7:00 p.m.
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERT: ABDULLAH IBRAHIM AND FRIENDS
•• Abdullah Ibrahim, Piano
•• Kevin Bryan, Trumpet
•• Jon Marc Magowen, Trumpet
•• James Zollar, Trumpet
•• Ravi Best, Trumpet
•• Andrae Murchison, Trombone
•• Stafford Hunter, Trombone
•• Dion Tucker, Trombone
•• Aaron Johnson, Trombone
•• Cleave Guyton, Alto Saxophone
•• Mark Gross, Alto Saxophone
•• Lance Bryant, Tenor Saxophone
•• Keith Loftis, Tenor Saxophone
•• Marshall McDonald, Baritone Saxophone
•• Noah Jackson, Bass
•• Will Terrell, Drums

Tickets: Free

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard (at 135th Street) | Manhattan
RSVP: schomburgcenter.eventbrite.com
nypl.org | 212-491-2040

Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Concerts are sponsored by Target®.
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Tuesday, October 21 at 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, October 29 at 3:30 p.m.
Various Locations
SOUTH AFRICAN DRUMMING FOR TEENS

Tuesday, October 21 at 3:30 p.m.
Parkchester Library
1985 Westchester Avenue | Bronx

Other dates:
Friday, October 10 at 3:30 p.m.
Baychester Library
2049 Asch Loop North | Bronx

Thursday, October 16 at 4 p.m.
Edenwald Library
1255 East 233rd Street | Bronx

Wednesday, October 29 at 3:30 p.m.
Great Kills Library
56 Giffords Lane | Staten Island

nypl.org

Presented by The New York Public Library in partnership with Urban Stages.