Vusi Mahlasela & Guy Buttery live at The Slave Church, CPT

Dates: 19 & 20 September

Venue: The Slave Church, Cape Town

Address: 40 Long St, Cape Town City Centre, Cape Town, 8000

Time: 19:00. Doors open at 18:15

Contact: 0823712107 – Wiam Otto – [email protected]

Price: R450 p/person

'Two of South Africa's most beloved artists will share the stage for the very first time in this highly anticipated double bill concert'

ARTIST BACKGROUNDS

VUSI MAHLASELA – Is a Two-time honorary doctorate degree holder and SAMA lifetime achievement award recipient, known globally as "The Voice", is a legendary South African singer-songwriter and a national treasure. Mahlasela is celebrated for his distinct, powerful voice and his poetic, optimistic lyrics and is known for his distinctively uplifting protests and anthems of freedom during and after the apartheid era.

GUY BUTTERY – Is an internationally acclaimed South African acoustic guitarist and multiple SAMA award winner, renowned for cross-cultural collaborations, boundary defying compositions and innovative fingerstyle guitar techniques.

COLLABORATIVE WORKS

Shared Tracks: Vusi Mahlasela lent his iconic vocals and artistic presence to Guy Buttery's self-titled 2016 album. Guy Buttery lent his phenomenal guitar skills to Vusi Mahlasela's 2006 album - Naledi Ya Tsela

Key Songs: Their cooperative efforts include the tracks "Werner Meets Egberto in Manaus" (featuring Mahlasela) and "The Upper Reaches" (featuring Mahlasela and Piers Faccini) on Guy Buttery's album, and the songs "Our Sand" (featuring Vusi Mahlasela) and "Sower of Words" (featuring Vusi Mahlasela & Dave Matthews) on Vusi Mahlasela's album

Musical Style: The collaborations fuse Buttery’s intricate, virtuosic acoustic guitar fingerpicking and global musical textures with Mahlasela’s legendary, soulful South African "The Voice" folk style.

FULL BIO'S

VUSI MAHLASELA:

Vusi Mahlasela is simply known as ‘The Voice’ in his home-country, South Africa, celebrated for his distinct, powerful voice and his poetic, optimistic lyrics. His songs of hope connect Apartheid-scarred South Africa with its promise for a better future. Raised in the Mamelodi Township, where he still resides, Vusi became a singer-songwriter and poet-activist at an early age teaching himself how to play guitar and later joining the Congress of South African Writers. After his popular debut on BMG Africa, “When You Come Back,” Vusi was asked to perform at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration in 1994. Vusi has toured globally and shared the stage with Dave Matthews Band, Sting, Paul Simon, Josh Groban, Ray LaMontagne, Natalie Merchant, Taj Mahal, among many others. In 2003, fellow South African Dave Matthews signed Vusi to ATO Records and began releasing his albums in North America to great acclaim. Vusi was honored to open for Dave Matthews Band when the group performed in South Africa for the first time in 2013 and joined the band. One of his most treasured performances was in 2010 when he helped ring in the World Cup in South Africa, at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. His iconic song “When You Come Back” was the theme song for the South African World Cup coverage on ITV in the UK.

Vusi has released nine beloved albums over the last two decades.; his latest release is “Shebeen Queen” (ATO Records), is a celebration of the vibrant musical culture of his hometown, first encountered at his grandmother’s shebeen. In light of his international and national acclaim, the SAMA Awards (South African Music Awards) honored Vusi with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014. Vusi was proud to have been an ambassador to Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign (an awareness effort surrounding the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa). Vusi holds an honorary doctorate degree from the prestigious Rhodes University in Grahamstown, SA. This fall, Vusi received a second honorary doctorate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. South African President Ramaphosa recently recognized Vusi cultural contributions with a national “Ubuntu and Culture” award. Additionally, South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma awarded Vusi with the National Order of Ikhamanga, recognizing him for “drawing attention to the injustices that isolated South Africa from the global community during the Apartheid years.”

As Nobel-Laureate, celebrated author and longtime champion of Vusi’s Nadine Gordimer, once put it best, “Vusi sings as a bird does, in total response to being alive. He is a national treasure.”

GUY BUTTERY

As an internationally recognized musician, this multi-instrumentalist enjoys invitations to play sell-out performances all over the globe. The USA, UK, Australia, France, Brazil, and Italy have all welcomed him back year after year. However, to simply label Guy Buttery as one of South Africa’s musical phenoms would be an injustice. His international role has surpassed merely performing concerts to foreign audiences. It has evolved into one as an ambassador of South African music, inspiring people across the world with his homegrown style at the very heart of his talent and tenacity. Guy’s distinct unification of South African guitar music is the musical advocate for everything positive and beautiful about the place he calls home.

At the age of 18, Guy Buttery’s debut album was nominated for ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Instrumental’ at the South African Music Awards (SAMA’s) making him the youngest nominee in the history of the event. Guy then went on to collect two SAMA’s in 2010 and again in 2014. He has also received numerous other major National accolades including the Ovation Award for his live performances at the National Arts Festival, and has been honored with more of these prestigious awards than any other artist.

Guy was then invited to perform his works with the 52-piece KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, dubbed “Africa’s greatest ensemble” with his solo performance voted “Top Live Show” by The Cape Times and was selected by the public as one of South Africa’s Top Young Personalities by The Mail & Guardian. In 2018, Guy received the highest accolade for a musician in South Africa and was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award. In almost 4 decades of honoring artist throughout the country, this was the first time since its inception that the award was presented to a musician outside of the classical realm.

Buttery has worked with an incredible myriad of artists including Dave Matthews, Jethro Tull, Vusi Mahlasela, multiple Grammy Award Winner Will Ackerman, Salif Keita, Preston Reed, Kaki King, The Violent Femmes, Jon Gomm and countless others. The media has cited him “as one of the finest exponents of the acoustic guitar in the World.” Expect high dynamics, deep grooves, delicate African inflections and mind-bending guitar playing of an entirely new order.