Following a relatively uneventful year due to illness, Sama-award-winning instrumentalist Guy Buttery is now touring the Western Cape.
His tour got underway on Tuesday at the Café Roux in Cape Town and will culminate at the Casa Labia in Muizenberg.
“It’s going to be a bit of everything,” he said of the tour, when we spoke over the phone from Durban, where he’s based.
“I’m doing a bunch of new pieces of music. It’s kind of my first tour in some time because I was quite sick for a long time last year. It’s really pretty freakin’ exciting because I’m happy to be making music again and going around doing what I’ve been doing most of my life. So it’s going to be restorative in many ways for me and cathartic as well, I guess, with the fact that I’m going to be able to share some new ideas with everyone.”
Buttery will be touring with an artist he holds in high esteem, the award-winning bassist, Shane Cooper. They’ve been talking for years about potentially collaborating at some stage.
“I’m a huge fan of what he does and I’ve always admired his playing and the projects that he’s involved with. It’s been a long time coming and this is our first concert as a duo,” he said, before adding. “Shane is possibly one of the most amazing musicians I’ve ever worked with. He’s so musical and his sense of groove, his sense of spirit and intention, is very profound.”
Buttery has a lot more planned for the year. After his Western Cape tour, he’ll also be touring in Johannesburg and Durban.
The Joburg tour, which commences with a concert at the Good Luck Bar, will feature a solo show, one with Dan Patlansky and Shane Cooper, as well as other uniquely crafted shows. Later in the year, he’ll be continuing his rigorous touring schedule with shows in areas as diverse as South-East Asia and New Zealand.
Buttery has travelled the world with his music, performing in America, Australia, Italy and several other places in Europe, but for him there’s just something about home.
“I love touring around South Africa. I’m very immersed in the landscape and its people. I find it massively humbling travelling around here. I find I’m always impressed and just blown away by my country. And being in that space and making the music of the space that it’s from is also quite important for me.”
March 9: Kronendal Music Academy (Hout Bay), 153 Empire Ave, 7pm; 021 790 4457.
March 10: Café Roux (Noordhoek), 270 Chapmans Peak Drive, 7pm; 021 789 2538.
March 11: Cape Farmhouse (Redhill), Junction 65/66 Plateau Rd, 3pm; 062 278 2823.
March 12: Two shows at Casa Labia (Muizenberg), 192 Main Rd, 5.30pm and 8pm; [email protected]
March 22: Good Luck Bar, 14 Alexander St, Ferreirastown, 7.30pm; [email protected]
March 23: Heimat Hall, NWU, Potchefstroom, 7pm; 060 749 8551.
March 24: The Studio (House Concert), 2b Tyson Rd, Westcliff, 6.30pm; [email protected]
March 25: Klitsgras Drumming, with Dan Patlansky, Garsfontein Road, Pretoria, 7pm; 083 311 0025.
March 26: The Orbit (with Shane Cooper), 81 de Korte St, Braamfontein, 2.30pm; 081 534 2867.