Note Venue Change - the performance has moved to T he Old Mushroom Farm

Guy Buttery invites Indian virtuosos to South Af rica for a National tour

Just weeks before South Africa went into loc k-down, award winning artist Guy Buttery was invited to perform a concert t our of India. It was on this trip that Buttery collaborated with tabla mast er, Mohd. Amjad Khan and sarangi virtuoso, Mudassir Khan. The tabla is the principal percussion instrument from the Subcontinent and the sarangi is th e 43 stringed “Indian box cello”. The fruits of this collaboration resulted in their celebrated trio album One Morning in Gurgaon, which was released in both the UK and on vinyl in Japan. Garnering rave reviews from across th e globe, their record made the Album of the Year list for NPR and also char ted at #10 on the World Music Charts in Europe. This Winter Guy is returnin g the favour and has invited both of these artists for a National tour of S outh Africa, kicking off at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda before m oving through the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Prior to t heir first performance in India together, all three musicians had never act ually met before, let alone made any music together. Before their first con cert they had only ’practised’ via voice recordings and exchanged texts som ewhere between Hindi and English to break down the various parts of the set . Ultimately it was this unrehearsed approach, combined with the inauspicio us and eleventh-hour nature of their first meeting, which provided the star dust for their collaboration. Guy explains, “Due to Delhi traffic, our inte nded dry run was shaved right down to a single 60 minutes, giving us just e nough time to shake hands, share a chai and tune our instruments. As a resu lt, we went in totally blind to that first concert, yet what unfolded on st age over the next hour left me in complete awe - so much so that after our performance I immediately set about asking anyone who would listen how we c ould track down a local studio to capture our newly formed trio. As luck wo uld have it, the very place where we had performed that first night had a b asic recording set-up and we somehow managed to secure a single morning to record.”

Both Mohd. Amjad Khan and Mudassir Khan are renowned masters of their respective instruments, steeped in the Indian classical tradition s from a young age. Although guardians of their musical heritage, One Morni ng In Gurgaon highlights their willingness to push the envelope of their in struments, expertly highlighted by Amjad whose tabla playing is marked by u ncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity. Likewise, Mudassi r has harnessed the potential of the rare and notoriously difficult sarangi , an instrument whose sound most resembles that of the human voice, and an instrument which Guy confesses to, “Being overly obsessed with.” The combin ed experience of Guy’s acoustic guitar wizardry with these two Indian maste r musicians culminates in an experience which is as pure and uninhibited an example of empathetic collaboration as you’ll find anywhere: A musical con versation between musicians exchanging each other’s ideas in the spur of th e moment and feeling out the areas of crossover with a depth that goes far beyond mimicry.

Since their spontaneous recording session in India, t he trio have not seen each other. The upcoming SA performances will reunite these three artists in a once-off, not to be repeated national tour.

TOUR SCHEDULE:

29th June - 1st July – National Arts Fes tival, Beethoven Room, Makhanda (4 concerts)
2nd July – The Slave Chur ch / 8pm / 40 Long St. / Cape Town City Centre - https://qkt.io/HlceOH
3rd Ju ly – The Olympia Bakery / 8pm / Kalk Bay - https://qkt.io/QcB2eg
8th July – T he Hilton Theatre / 7pm / Hilton College, Hilton - https://qkt.io/gamhilton
10th July – NIROX / 2pm / Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng - https://ni rox.howler.co.za/NiroxGurgaon

“A spontaneous dream. A compendium of enrapturing sonic stories.” - PopMatters

“Dexterous, defiant and d elicate all at once.” - Texx and The City

“magically spirits you away to this land of enduring mystery and majesty.” - The Herald

“these m asterly improvisations weave from strands of several musical traditions a r ich tapestry that is downright mesmerizing.” - Minor7th

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buttery hilton july