Jazz icon Butler arrives in Uganda
Sep 27, 2007
CELEBRATED South African artiste, Jonathan Butler, arrived in Uganda yesterday afternoon for a charity show. Butler will tomorrow evening perform at Kampala Serena Hotel. Part of the show’s proceeds will benefit The Aids Support Organization (TASO).
By Jude Katende
Celebrated South African artiste, Jonathan Butler, arrived in Uganda yesterday afternoon for a charity show. Butler will tomorrow evening perform at Kampala Serena Hotel. Part of the show’s proceeds will benefit The Aids Support Organization (TASO).
“About 70% tickets have been sold (each costs sh120,000) and about 85% of the proceeds will go to TASO’s orphaned children,†said Justina Ntabgoba of Celtel Uganda, which is organising the event.
Holding his guitar and casually clad in jeans and trainers, the gray-haired Butler said he was happy to be in Uganda and East-Africa for the first time.
“I’ve been flying since Tuesday but feel great here. I love the landscape. The lush green grass and red soil I watched from the plane reminds me of South Africa. It’s really beautiful,†the stout artiste said with a chuckle.
Butler was accompanied by five African-Americans, including his manager Conan Reynolds, vocalist Kurt Lykes, bass guitarist Stan Sergeant, keyboardist Kenneth Knight and drummer Eric Valentine.
“We’re gonna take people on a journey of old and new songs including the very latest,†Butler said in an American accent.
He told The New Vision that he would be releasing a new DVD in October entitled Live in SA and a new gospel CD, Brand New Day.
Asked how he would like to be described considering his wide music inclinations, including blues, jazz and gospel, the singer, songwriter and guitarist said he sees himself as a plain artiste.
“My music represents my country. I am just an artiste. I want to listen to East African music and stay a little longer here,†said Butler, who is scheduled to fly back to the US on Sunday.
He joked that he would make a song out of the word matooke (banana) because it sounded good, and that he would taste it.
Butler, who was later whisked to Serena Hotel in a police-led convoy, has recorded 13 albums, including his latest, Brand New Day.
Influenced by African- American artistes like George Benson and Stevie Wonder, Butler’s international breakthrough came in 1987 with his Grammy- nominated hit Lies and his version of the Staple Singers song If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me), which he performed with Ruby Turner.
Born to a poor family in Cape Town, South Africa in 1961, during the apartheid days, Butler began his music career at about age 7.
At 15, he started getting into drugs to survive. “I didn’t like food. I just drank coffee, got high, and played my guitar 10 hours a day. I didn’t leave my house. I didn’t leave my room,†he explained.
Butler became a born- again Christian more than 20 years ago. He married the sister of the fan who led him to Christ.
Although his first gospel CD only came out recently, Butler continually works, as he puts it, to show Christ to the secular jazz world.
Celebrated South African artiste, Jonathan Butler, arrived in Uganda yesterday afternoon for a charity show. Butler will tomorrow evening perform at Kampala Serena Hotel. Part of the show’s proceeds will benefit The Aids Support Organization (TASO).
“About 70% tickets have been sold (each costs sh120,000) and about 85% of the proceeds will go to TASO’s orphaned children,†said Justina Ntabgoba of Celtel Uganda, which is organising the event.
Holding his guitar and casually clad in jeans and trainers, the gray-haired Butler said he was happy to be in Uganda and East-Africa for the first time.
“I’ve been flying since Tuesday but feel great here. I love the landscape. The lush green grass and red soil I watched from the plane reminds me of South Africa. It’s really beautiful,†the stout artiste said with a chuckle.
Butler was accompanied by five African-Americans, including his manager Conan Reynolds, vocalist Kurt Lykes, bass guitarist Stan Sergeant, keyboardist Kenneth Knight and drummer Eric Valentine.
“We’re gonna take people on a journey of old and new songs including the very latest,†Butler said in an American accent.
He told The New Vision that he would be releasing a new DVD in October entitled Live in SA and a new gospel CD, Brand New Day.
Asked how he would like to be described considering his wide music inclinations, including blues, jazz and gospel, the singer, songwriter and guitarist said he sees himself as a plain artiste.
“My music represents my country. I am just an artiste. I want to listen to East African music and stay a little longer here,†said Butler, who is scheduled to fly back to the US on Sunday.
He joked that he would make a song out of the word matooke (banana) because it sounded good, and that he would taste it.
Butler, who was later whisked to Serena Hotel in a police-led convoy, has recorded 13 albums, including his latest, Brand New Day.
Influenced by African- American artistes like George Benson and Stevie Wonder, Butler’s international breakthrough came in 1987 with his Grammy- nominated hit Lies and his version of the Staple Singers song If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me), which he performed with Ruby Turner.
Born to a poor family in Cape Town, South Africa in 1961, during the apartheid days, Butler began his music career at about age 7.
At 15, he started getting into drugs to survive. “I didn’t like food. I just drank coffee, got high, and played my guitar 10 hours a day. I didn’t leave my house. I didn’t leave my room,†he explained.
Butler became a born- again Christian more than 20 years ago. He married the sister of the fan who led him to Christ.
Although his first gospel CD only came out recently, Butler continually works, as he puts it, to show Christ to the secular jazz world.