Bloggers Music

Written on October 30, 2007 – 3:11 am | by Michael |

DURING HIS CONCERT AT the Kampala Serena Hotel recently, South African jazz maestro Jonathan Butler, strummed his guitar with abundant energy. It was a show worth of his reputation that when he declared, and declared: “Tonight is a celebration and harmony,” nobody could argue.

His repertoire of hits included Pata Pata, Take Good Care Of Me, This Is Love, Mandela Bay, 7th Avenue and Sing Me Your Love Song.

The performance in Kampala was testimony to the fact that Butler has finally come of age. He started his stage career as a child variety show performer who travelled across South Africa. He managed to ply his trade despite the horrors of apartheid. All he needed was food on the table.

As a young musician, his career was full of contradictions. He would perform at lavish concert halls for Whites-only audiences but was not even allowed to use the bathroom. The very next night he would perform in a deprived Black township, where his own safety would be in doubt.

Born on October 10, 1961 and raised in Cape Town during apartheid, Butler started singing and playing the acoustic guitar quite early in life.

Racial segregation and poverty in the black community during apartheid has been the subject of many of his recordings. His first single, the first by a black artist ever played on white radio stations in the racially segregated South Africa, earned him a Sarie Award, South Africa ‘s equivalent of the Grammys.

“I express love and peace and Africa possesses all these things. Just because a country is poor doesn’t mean it’s poor in spirit. We are rich in spirit. I talk about issues that I see everyday,” Butler said.

Butler, the youngest in a family of 17, began singing publicly in many of the South African townships ravaged and brutalised by apartheid in the late 1960’s.

He first joined his brother Danny’s group, The Golden City Dixies, when he was seven and travelled with them for three years. When the Dixies took a year off from performing, he established a new group with another brother Paul. He later joined a new band, Freedom, and was soon approached by record company Bullet Records to launch a solo career.

By 1978 he was playing with Pacific Express and for a short while he had his own jazz-rock band called The Butler. Two albums were recorded with the Express personnel, and some Pacific Express songs were later released on the 1988 7th Avenue album.

MUSIC MAY HAVE GIVEN him the means to escape from the clutches of apartheid, but time has given him a perspective on his past, and brought him back to Cape Town.

Butler has returned to South Africa on numerous occasions, leading humanitarian and charity efforts for the less fortunate. He also serves on the board of directors of the Acres of Love, a South African non-profit organisation that cares for abandoned, HIV positive infants and children. He performs at numerous benefit concerts for the charity organisation, including the Third Annual Sunset Serenade.

But why did he leave his homeland? “I left because it was God’s plan for my life. I don’t regret it because it was important to bring the spirit of excellence back to the country,” he said.

“I came to the West seeking artistic freedom to express myself,” he added. “While my albums have always offered vocal cuts and instrumentals, for me it was never about creating music for a particular type of audience, but about surrendering to the will of the music and just letting it flow through me, whichever direction it may go.”

Butler says Brazilian music was his biggest influence when he was growing. He wanted to match all its flavours and end up with a sound that is uniquely his.

Before coming for the Ugandan concert, he had given six performances in the US, just in September alone. The curtain raiser for the Butler show was The Aids Support Organisation (Taso) Kids followed by Uganda’s saxophonist, Isaiah Katumwa, and guitarist Maurice Kirya.

Proceeds of the concert will go towards starting an Education Trust Fund to support over 300 Taso orphans currently sponsored by Celtel Uganda staff. Celtel Uganda partnered with Kenya Airways, Kampala Serena and Kfm to sponsor the concert.

“We are proud of Butler’s great achievements in music, which we would like share with Uganda,” said Cesear Mloka, Celtel marketing director.

Taso was founded in 1987 and is today the largest local NGO providing HIV and Aids services in Uganda, having supported over 150,000 children since its inception.

One of Butler’s tracks, Mandela Bay, is a lively instrumental tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela. The song exudes optimism — the joy of liberation, the celebration of life.

At 13, Butler’s talents caught the attention of British record producer, Clive Caulder of Jive Records, who eventually signed him on. Jive was headquartered in England, so Butler decided to move to the UK to focus on his recording career for the next 17 years.

He married Barenese Beaton on February 19, 1983. He now resides in Los Angeles.

HIS INTERNATIONAL BRE- akthrough came in 1987 with his Grammy nominated pop single Lies off his self-titled debut album. An instrumental, Going Home, earned him a Grammy nomination as well.

His version of the Staple Singers song If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me), off the Going Home album, which he performed with Ruby Turner introduced him to international audiences as an established singer-songwriter and guitarist.

His music is classified as R&B, jazz fusion or smooth jazz, Christian and tropical.

Being nominated for the Grammy’s once is wonderful but twice means a lot to the musician.

“It means that my peers recognise me and they accept me not as a South African but as an artist,” he said.

His records include: Introducing Jonathan Butler (Jive Records, 1985), Jonathan Butler (1987), Inspirations (1987), 7th Avenue (Mountain Records, 1988), More Than Friends (1988), More Than Friends (1990), Heal Our Land (1990), Best of Jonathan Butler (1993), Gospel Days (Mountain Records, 1993), Head To Head (1994), Do You Love Me? (1997), Story Of Life (1999), The Source (2000), Surrender (Warner Brothers, 2003), Ultimate Butler (2002), Worship Project (2004), Jonathan (2005), Gospel Goes Classical (2006) (with Juanita Bynum), Going Home and Brand New Day (2007).

Butler’s ability to blend his roots in African music with Western pop sensibilities was a trademark of many albums, though never more refined than in his latest release. For example, the first single from his latest album is a rendition of the folk-rock classic Fire and Rain. He breathes new life into this classic, infusing the vocals with intensity, as subtle as it is powerful. The musical arrangement is lively and soulful.

With a career spanning 28 years, 15 albums and over one million records sold, Butler is undeniably one of the most successful jazz musicians of his generation. However, this he disputes, success is measured on a higher plane, he says.

A religious and spiritual man, Butler has devoted his life to being a better husband to his wife of 20 years, a better father to his three teenage children, and a better citizen of his homeland, South Africa.

He is an inspiration to many and acknowledges the challenges of growing up in a nation still recovering from decades of subjugation, but believes in the potential of his people to overcome. He is a product of the stage.

From his early days as an entertainer in South Africa to his numerous world tours, one thing is for certain; he is meant to perform.

Being an idol to many up-coming musicians his advice to them is: “To the young musicians I say practice.”

By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI