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Note: Below is archived content.
Upcoming 2020 Tangents Concerts
South African guitarist
Guy Buttery
Only Bay Area Guy Buttery shows
Sun, Jan 26 (SF) SOLD OUT
Fri, Jan 24, East Bay SOLD OUT
Guy Buttery (by Deborah Rossouw)
Reviews
In an in-depth three-page feature, Rolling Stone magazine cited Buttery simply as “extraordinary.”
Guy was called a “national treasure” by South Africa's leading newspaper, The Mercury
“Guy Buttery’s goal is to stretch the boundaries of fingerstyle guitar to their outermost limits.” — Guitar Player Magazine (Anil Prasad)
“I am moved by Guy Buttery's musical language and journey: this musician from South Africa is painting a framework, transforming his roots and the richness of his mixed culture into an inspired language that has become very personal and yet universal. This is touching, refreshing and amazing to witness.”" — Pierre Bensusan
“Buttery is a god on the fretboard. A guitar master who proves once again that he doesn’t push boundaries; he simply vaults over them and goes for a stroll in the musical unknown.” — CUE
“... incredible versatility and imagination. There are times when it sounds as if there’s a seven-piece band backing Guy Buttery, so complex and rich is the sound, but it’s just him and his acoustic guitar exploring myriad textures and rhythms with an ingenious imagination and scant regard for music industry rules.” — JHBLive
Videos
This video knocks me out.
Video of Guy's impressionistic side.
And while I'm at it, this video showcases Guy utilizing unorthodox technique in the song's intro.
Guy Buttery Bio
Guy started guitar at age 10. His parents filled the house with the sounds of Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Dylan and Bob Marley. Outside nearby Guy heard the local Zulu tribesmen playing their Maskanda music in one direction and the sounds of sitar and tabla from Indian Hindu temples the other way.
John Paul Jones’ mandolin on Led Zeppelin’s “Battle of Evermore” caused Guy to get a mandolin, and Ravi Shankar and local sitar players inspired Guy to also pick up that instrument. His guitar fingerstyle techniques expanded considerably after being introduced to the music of Michael Hedges.
He has performed and/or recorded with top musicians including Salif Keita, Dave Matthews, Jethro Tull, The Violent Femmes and legendary South African vocalist Vusi Mahlasela. Guy has also worked with fellow fingerstyle guitarists Will Ackerman, Preston Reed, Martin Simpson and the late Bob Brozman.
His brand new cd Nadi is a collaboration with sitarist and vocalist Kanada Narahari. How this collaboration came to be demonstrates the healing power of music. Story here.
excerpt:
When acclaimed South African musician Guy Buttery first sought out Dr. Kanada Narahari in late 2016, it was as his patient.
“It was a dark time.” Buttery recalls, “I had been bedridden for months and had been suffering from debilitating bouts of fatigue which no diagnosis or medication could help me get to the bottom of. When I first met Kanada, I was at the stage where even picking up my guitar to make music had become a joyless and taxing exercise.”
As Buttery’s searched for a cure, a family member recommended he see Kanada an Ayurvedic doctor who had relocated to South Africa from India and set up a practice in Durban. It was during this consultation, that the musician first experienced how Narahari infused the healing properties of Indian Classical music into his practice. Rather than treating him with a smorgasbord of pharmaceuticals, Narahari played his sitar and set Buttery on a strict daily diet of Raga’s to fast track his recovery.
Buttery was not only struck by his doctor’s musical talents but by the powerful healing properties inherent in his sitar compositions. When he left Narahari’s doctors room that afternoon, he asserts he was feeling decidedly clearer, lighter and stronger.
“Diving into Kanada’s music was definitely one of the reasons I'm still here today.” he admits. “The consistent tonal centre at the heart of Indian Classical Music, literally became my support pillar over this period. A central core of sorts in which to fall back on, strengthen and discover.”
Narahari as it turned out, was not only a prominent music therapist (and one of the only Ayurvedic doctors practicing in South Africa) but like Buttery, a highly accomplished musician with a devoted following back in his homeland.