The maestro stringing together the sounds of KwaZulu-Natal

How much power can a sound have? Guy Buttery discovered the answer. “Music can do so much more than we realise,” he says. When Buttery picked up a guitar as a child, he didn’t anticipate how this choice would resonate later in his life. He was simply adding to the tunes of his musically-inclined family. By the age of 12, Buttery was writing his own melodies and lyrics. With an interest in soulful rhythms and an aptitude for unusual instruments, his skillset grew as he did. Today, the artist uses his extensive talents to create a mélange of South Africa’s musical landscape.

Buttery was raised in KwaZulu-Natal, a province rich in cultural diversity. Influenced by the region’s large Indian diaspora, he developed an interest and proficiency in the sitar, a classical string instrument. At university he studied jazz, and learnt maskandi, a style of Zulu folk music, from the local population. “Only in South Africa would you get all of these textures under one umbrella,” Buttery says. His repertoire extends from genres to instruments, as he adds the African mbira, a musical saw, EBow, mandolin and a looper pedal to his sets. Though these tools are uncommon, Buttery has mastered them. “I try to merge these sounds to represent the world I grew up in,” he says. 

With his range of rhythms, Buttery plucks at the heartstrings of the nation. At the age of 18, he became the youngest artist to receive a South African Music Award nomination for Best Newcomer of the Year. That was in 2003. Buttery’s won two SAMA’s since, and last year he received the nation’s highest recognition in the arts – the Standard Bank Young Artist Award. Along his musical journey, he’s collaborated with Indian classical maestro Kanada Narahari, folk singer Vusi Mahlasela, and acoustic guitarist Nibs van der Spuy. Buttery has released seven albums and taken his talents across the world to showcase our country’s diverse heritage. “South Africa deserves its own local sound,” he says. “I’m humbled to be one of the many voices contributing to that.” 

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