Orchestrations

Buttery has pursued a more eclectic approach to incorporating global styles into his guitar playing than his fellow South African virtuoso Derek Gripper and more than two decades of adventurous music-making reaches its zenith on an album that stands as his magnum opus. The project began in 2012 when he performed some of his earlier compositions with a 52-piece symphony orchestra. The experience set him on a mission to create an immersive orchestrated suite that just kept on growing in scope, hence its long gestation. The orchestrations frame the 14 tracks as a contemporary classical work but on top of this he layers his own thrilling guitar playing plus contributions from Gripper, American guitarist Kaki King and ‘king of the Zulu guitar’ Madala Kunene, as well as Indian classical musicians, Swiss groove-master Julian Sartorius and others. The results are elaborate and extraordinary as the music ebbs and flows between melancholy and ecstasy and all points in between.