Gig Preview: South African Guitarist Guy Buttery Returns to India This Week for Amarrass Nights in New Delhi

Although New Delhi’s unseasonal rains put a (literal) dampener on their previous two editions, the capital’s label Amarrass Records are back with bright music from India and abroad for their latest outing this week.

South African fingerstyle guitarist and composer Guy Buttery will return to India (he last toured the country in 2019) for Amarrass Nights on November 19th, held at Sunder Nursery in New Delhi. He’ll be joined by Qawwali group Rehmat-e-Nusrat and Kumaoni folk act HimaliMou.

Ashutosh Sharma, co-founder at Amarrass, says about the lineup, “Our rider is to only work with (and for) amazing musicians provided they are unknown or not so well known … and these three bands fit the bill. Rehmat-e-Nusrat, the new group on the label, are arguably the best Qawwals in the country, while HimaliMou brings desh music and sounds from the Kumaon hills, which is usually not heard or heard of in the cities. As for Guy Buttery, I’d rather let his guitar explain all this.”

Buttery, for his part, posted on Instagram about coming back to India. “And just like that I’m heading off to my favorite planet within the planet [India]. I haven’t left South Africa since my last U.S.A. tour in February 2020,” he said in his post. He added that his desire to travel has been “pretty minimum” since the pandemic struck and curtailed movement around the world. “Despite this, the unstoppable itch to return to India has prevailed. It always does. I’ll be doing a bunch of shows through the country kicking off this weekend in Delhi before heading further East to Thailand for some more concerts,” he added.

For their part, Rehmat-e-Nusrat have been taking over stages at classical and multi-genre festivals alike and bring an energetic performance each time. Formed in 2014, the band is led by vocalist and harmonium artist Sarvjeet Tamta and also recently performed at Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh. Tamta counts the likes of Ustadji Wadali Brothers from Amritsar, Ustadji Fakira Khan Saheb from Barmer, Rajasthan and Ustadji Padma Shri Anwar Khan Manganiyar amongst his teachers.

HimaliMou was born as an alter-ego of Rehmat-e-Nusrat, featuring members from the latter but performing Pahaadi folk music from the Kumaon region in Uttarakhand. Making their live debut at the Jaipur Literature Festival in early 2021, HimaliMou includes vocals as well as bansuri, dholak, hand drums and claps.

Amarrass Nights ft Guy Buttery, Rehmat-e-Nusrat, HimaliMou takes place on November 19th, from 5:30 pm onwards at Sunder Nursery Amphitheater. Entry: ₹1,180 and ₹1,770 (on the 19th). Get tickets here.