Seven years ago I was privileged to see South African jazz pianist-composer Abdullah Ibrahim play live in a Cape Town theatre. His performance reduced me to tears – of nostalgia for a soundtrack of my political awakening as a young South African, of sheer joy at the familiarity of his melodies and the artistry of his hands on the keys. There was an added quality too that was hard to describe: he’d become ethereal, in his presence on stage and in the way in which he invoked memories of his repertoire. In a beautiful tribute to Ibrahim, Christine Lucia explains how the 89-year-old musician has pared down and distilled his playing as he has grown older. He now plays “as if he is remembering through his hands”.

Ilorin, in north-central Nigeria, is a major city which has been an important part of the Yoruba world for centuries. But its history in the 1,000 years prior to the 1800s has not been well known. Archaeologist Bolaji Owoseni is now uncovering the ancient settlement. She explains what Ilorin’s potsherd pavements reveal about past technology, innovation, social interactions and economies.

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