The limited edition LP has been selected as part of a specially curated vinyl series with Japanese based company Qrates. This vinyl pressing has been specifically remastered for vinyl and includes two exclusive and unreleased bonus tracks for download which are not available anywhere else. Very limited stocks are available so dive at if you're keen.
Includes unlimited streaming of One Morning in Gurgaon
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 4 days
edition of 300
$24USDor more
Streaming + Download
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$7USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Limited edition CD that comes in a 4-panel digipak release blessed by the gods themselves. It also includes a 1000 word novella of sorts written by Guy.
Includes unlimited streaming of One Morning in Gurgaon
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Towards the end of 2019, Mohd. Amjad Khan, Mudassir Khan and I were scheduled to rehearse just outside of Delhi four hours before our opening concert. We had never met before, let alone made any music together. Whilst our allotted rehearsal time was cutting it a bit fine, we had been “practising” via voice recordings and texting somewhere between Hindi and English to break down various parts of the set. Due to Delhi traffic, our intended dry run was shaved right down to a single 60 minutes giving us just enough time to shake hands, share a chai and tune our instruments. As a result we went in totally blind to that first concert yet what unfolded on stage over the next hour left me in complete awe. So much so that after our performance I immediately set about asking anyone who would listen how we could track down a local studio to capture our newly formed trio. As luck would have it, the very place where we had performed that first night (Eastwind Academy for Advanced Music & Performance) had a basic recording set-up. The only problem was they had never recorded anything there before. With limited time together and an already crammed schedule, we somehow managed to secure a single morning to record. The synchronicities of this encounter and the unexpected studio session that followed, immediately reminded me of a previous trip to the subcontinent.
My first brush with India and its myriad of landscapes and musical wonders was at the age of 21 when I arrived in the country for an undetermined length of time. Back then, I was scheduled to meet two close friends in the South with a vague plan to head in a Northerly direction. The whole trip was discussed over one singular long distance telephone call whilst each of us looked over our respective maps (which in my case was a globe of the Earth). We arranged to meet at that place somewhere on the lower end of the map that began with the letter “T” followed by mouthful of syllables. It turns out we were referring to Thiruvananthapuram. A loose plan indeed but somehow we all landed up at the same place and began what turned out to be a 3 month, 6700km (4100 miles) trip across the country.
We opted to share a double bed for the three of us most nights and split all our meals so we could go a little further for a little longer. We stowawayed on train rooftops through the Punjab, bathed in mountain top hot springs in the snowfall, played endless Uno games, sampled the local dysentery, hitched rides on the roofs of very, very tired old buses, home-stayed with the “untouchables” in the Himalayas, slept on the beaches and once scored a $1 room with “aircon” which consisted of a hole in the wall with a blizzard blowing through which we shared with a dog. The dog responded to the name “Watkynd”. Whilst the many wild tales of those misadventures could fill many an album sleeve, I don’t believe any of my prior or subsequent travels have impacted and shaped me as much as that trip did. I came back a vegetarian, 10kgs lighter, with a severe case of lockjaw and a deep love for a land, its people and its intoxicating music.
Whilst I’ve been fortunate to return to India since that seminal journey (mostly as a “mule” taking Bollywood long players to Delhi to subsidise return visits to the Himalayas), it was only at the end of 2019 that I was first invited to perform in the country. On a previous trip, I’d been asked by a friend to bring some drum skins back to South Africa for him and, as a result, was introduced to (although did not physically meet) tabla master, Amjad Khan. We exchanged a few messages and promised to connect when I was next in Delhi. Not long after I was contacted by one Yaduveer Singh Thakur about doing a nationwide tour through the Motherland. I was well pleased. Being overly obsessed with the Indian box cello, the sarangi, I asked Amjad if he knew anyone who played the instrument and, as a result, I was connected with Mudassir Khan who came highly recommended. A few emails later, we were officially a touring band.
It seems impossibly fortuitous that the celestials and traffic gods aligned to allow “One Morning in Gurgaon” to be. All the music you hear contained within is the result of singular takes. Time didn’t allow for more. Amjad chose what songs we would play. Our rendition of “Raag Yaman” presented here was the first and only time we ever played it together. Mudassir gave me a skeleton idea of the raga in spoken word and what unfolded is what you hear here. Everything else was almost certainly telepathic. I was well aware of the intuition and openness in the room that consequential morning in Gurgaon. I feel incredibly humbled to have shared in sound with these two masters and am forever grateful to them both for their profound musicianship, their warm hearts and their spontaneous spirits.
- GUY BUTTERY
credits
released September 10, 2021
Mohd. Amjad Khan: tabla
Mudassir Khan: sarangi
Guy Buttery: acoustic guitar, mbira, swarmandal & tanpura
Recorded at Eastwind Blackbox, Gurgaon, India
Production manager: Dhruv Yadav
Recording engineers: Adhiraj Mustafi & Barun Sinha
Assistant engineers: Suraj Sarawagi & Madhav Michael Tillotsonu
Produced by Guy Buttery
Mixed by Mãrçk Hæckø at The Old Shop, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Mastered by Simon Ratcliffe at Sound & Motion Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
Design by Tamsin Davies
Front cover photo by Bruce Buttery
Back cover photos by Alisha Chatterjee & Yatin Khatri
Sleeve notes by Guy Buttery
Coordinated by Neil Record
Released by Riverboat Records / World Music Network
Tour manager: Yaduveer Singh Thakur
Live engineer: Navprabhat Rawat
All tracks published by Riverboat UK Music (MCPS). All tracks composed by Guy Buttery except tracks 4 & 7 (trad arr. Guy Buttery, Mohd. Amjad Khan, Mudassir Khan).
Thanks to Eastwind Academy for Advanced Music & Performance, Dhruv Yadav, Yaduveer Singh Thakur (AKA Lord Yaduji), Pranjal Uniyal (AKA Rachanachar), Alisha Chatterjee, Daniel Basckin, Casimi Guitars, Neil Record, Marc and John Moynihan, Ronan and Maya, Kanada Narahari, Veda Hrudya Nadendla, Neil Coppen, Nibs, Riaan, Fuzzy, The SAMRO Foundation, Islamuddin Ahmed, Raziya Begum, Ustad Akram Khan, Ustad Asif Ali Khan, Shabnum Begum and Rasheed Ahmed.
“Guy Buttery is something of a National treasure”, says South Africa’s leading newspaper The Mercury. Guy’s distinct
unification of South African guitar music is the musical advocate for everything positive and beautiful about the place he calls home. An ambassador of South African music, Guy inspires people across the world with his homegrown style at the very heart of his talent and tenacity....more
My first duo album with long time collaborator & dear brother, Nibs van der Spuy. This album features a mix of instruments such as the cuatro, mbira, sitar, tanpura and various guitars. Take a listen! Guy Buttery
supported by 27 fans who also own “One Morning in Gurgaon”
Dearest Arooj, firstly thank you. My brother died this year n what can be said about such loss n sadness. I saw n heard you at The end of the Road in England. I spent many years in India n love all the music, poetry of your heritage. Thankyou Arooj❤️ ben1769
supported by 23 fans who also own “One Morning in Gurgaon”
I always loved the music of Mali since first hearing Ali Farke Toure on radio many years ago, and was truly stunned when I heard Derek in concert. This is awesome. neildwakeling
