(Guy Buttery)
A display guitar
playing of astonishing grace, power and originality. (Review by Keith Millar)
South African
acoustic guitar wizard, Guy Buttery, is a perennial participant at the National
Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Over the years, he has enchanted and mesmerised
audiences with the brilliance of his guitar playing, and has built up a loyal
and adoring fan base. In fact, no other musician has won more Standard Bank
Ovation Awards at the festival than Buttery.
This year he
appeared as a solo artist at the intimate Graham Hotel venue. This, even though
the festival programme had billed him to be playing alongside Cape Town’s
double bass maestro Shane Cooper. No explanation was offered for the change in
programme.
However, his loyal
fans, who turned up in numbers, did not give a hoot as they revelled in a
display guitar playing of astonishing grace, power and originality. It is hard
to remember that the instrument he is playing is a humble guitar as he creates
a montage of textures and rhythms, which are simply astounding.
Buttery makes
liberal use of loops and an ebow (an electronic device which creates a sound
reminiscent to the using a bow on strings). This, along with his tapping,
picking and strumming, creates such a rich and complex sound picture which almost
sounds as if a multi-instrument band is performing.
Buttery also
delivered one number on the sitar. An instrument he says he is in the process
of learning to play. Well, he sounded pretty darned good to me.
Between numbers,
Buttery is friendly and laid-back in the extreme. Even engaging in casual chat
with the audience. Not even a broken string could upset him as he took a brief
break to replace it.
But once he starts
playing, it is as if he enters another world. He becomes one with his music and
he connects completely with the soul of his guitar. The result is music that
passionate, adventurous, richly textured, emotional and completely captivating.
Buttery has a
burgeoning international career and is spending increasing amounts of time
touring overseas. So, don’t wait until the next festival to see him perform - look
out for a local event featuring him, or with him collaborating with other
artists as he often does, and be sure not miss it.
Buttery has one
more performance left at Grahamstown this year: tomorrow (July 8) at 16h00 at
the Thomas Pringle Hall at the Monument. – Keith Millar
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