tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. and, as we what i hope it is a great holiday, a grammy- nominated singer, songwriter, an artist, jonathan butler, raised in south africa during the worst part of apartheid. his particular brand of jazz combined with r&b and gospel is known to audiences all around the world. i am glad you joined us for our conversation with an performance from jonathan butler, coming up tonight. ♪

contributions by viewers like you. thank you. ♪ grammy nominee jonathan butler has always used music to bring people together, performing first in his native south africa during the height of apartheid, and his move to the u.k. began his international career. his latest cd is called "merry he wills to you," and

perform not one but two songs, "o holy night" and "little drummer boy." >> always good to talk to you. tavis, i have been home is so much. it has been incredible. safaris. i take americans to see my country, in light in them about south africa, and i launched my it has been ad crazy time of traveling. the foundation is focused on what, specifically? prevention, and in the townships in our area, there is , and wel governments

have about almost 100 children now and teachers in the classrooms and schools, and i will be spending more time at home, going into the townships, talking about my experiences, talking about music, all of that stuff, so it is an awesome project that we have been able to find, like 20 years of trying. two things before we go on. i thought i heard you say that one of your missions was music therapy? what do you mean when you say music therapy? >> the school of music is in pretoria, and it is one of the oldest townships. it is a township that would never have been recognized or noticed. a lot of the kids are from broken homes, from really devastating areas, and we have found that music therapy is another way of helping the

children cope and work through some of their issues. i have had music help me through my issues, just living alone without my parents on the road, so we have really professionals that are in that capacity to help with the music therapy, you know, and, believe me, when i tell you that cape town and johannesburg, there is a lot going on that we do not hear on the news, but kids are being killed. kids are losing their lives, and kids are murdering their parents because of the drug situation. we have a situation with drug lords taking over communities, so i partnered with a wonderful couple, and they have been working in the townships for years and years with the local government, and it is actually moving forward. every time i read a

story like this, it breaks my heart. what your countrymen and women went through to break the spine of apartheid, and like our inner cities, to be battling another war, another demon called drugs, it is, you just cannot catch a break. >> i stood in london with the guests, and we have done it for three years, and i took them and we had township, 20 people in one room. that was the size of the room, at least 20, at least four families were living there, so if you see four beds, that is four families. non-four people, four families. >> yes.

there is a whole lot of struggle. there is so much wealth in south africa, but there is so much poverty. exactly what it is. even in south africa, the rich people have gotten richer, and the poor people are struggling. it is a young democracy. we do not have any excuse in the united states. >> we are still dealing with colored, blacks, and whites in south africa, and the colored community is a culture. it is a way of life. that america does not use here, but for me raising my children in america, when i come to america, i am black, and when i go to south africa, i am colored. it is a whole weird way, but i find my music and my , i lookship in christ beyond that and try to speak for everything and for everyone as opposed to just, hey, i am doing

this and just representing -- i am afraid to ask you what they call you in london. black here, colored there, what are you in london west and mark >> i say i am british, but not english. that is what i call it. i am british, not english. tavis: fair enough. ,he other thing i wanted to ask and we will hear your performance later, but with your record, your guitar, when you walked in, i wanted to see this. i have a director named johnson. when you walked in, and i saw , the thing is beautiful. i have never seen a design like that. this is wood? teak.s is african

all alan keyes, and i can take it apart and put it back together again, and it is african teakwood, and it is a south african builder, and i really think this guy is one of the premier builders. i build you an, guitar. do you want to try it, so he put the amp up there, and i tried it, and -- ♪ just fell in love with it. he built me two, so i am kind of like promoting my buddy's guitars. it looks great and sounds good. greg i feel that if i dress bad, at least people can talk about my guitar. your outfit is hideous, but your tar is gorgeous.

>> yes, son, polish your shoes. right, let me go to the new project, "merry and i am to you," always fascinated by artists who at some point in their career decide they want to do a christmas cd, and what motivated you at this point in your life to do a christmas cd? dave,l, our friend, sitting at the table with no christmas record, and everybody asked me, i will sing"o holy night," "little drummer boy," and this is a record-breaking cd, because it is the only one i did in one week. astarted the record on saturday, and i finished it on a saturday, and i was, i have never made a record so quickly, because i wanted to make the songs simple, and i wanted to

keep it personal and make it about the voice and guitar. when you check out the cd, it is mostly me and the guitar, the voice and guitar. it is not like strings. there are a couple of songs i have production on and that dave plays on, and my friends play on, but it is mostly intimate. i am glad you said that, and i am anxious to hear these two tracks live, but it is what i love most about you. it is that you can make it work with a lot of production, but you can also make it work with just your voice and just this acoustic sound, and that is what makes it so beautiful. you are just as good stripped- down as you are with all of the production, and that is a wonderful thing. later, i30 records think i also like when i am sitting at home, and i am

playing, i like simple, just the strip down the stuff. i do not have to double your keyboard players. i do not use tracks. a lot of artists use tracks with their shows so it sounds full. on the guitar, that is it. everybody watching the show knows that i am a big fan. can i put you on the spot? you can perceive this as a warm- up, with the two song you are about to do, just to make this point of how beautiful you are stripped down, would you play just a little bit of "falling in love"? >> sure. ♪ love with jesus,

falling in love to use this -- with jesus falling in love with jesus i have ever thing done ♪ ♪ this is why i love you, man. you hit it right on the spot and make it sound so sweet. dd was in our church not long ago, and i think we saw him come in, and the pastor asked him if he would not mind coming up and singing a song, and he came up and said in front of the whole church, i wish i had written the song. i love this song. it has been in my spirit, and

you can go to youtube and see it. he killed that thing. he loved the song. >> i have to tell my church, i have to tell them that stevie sang it. know to get up and say, i you have heard stevie wonder singing this song, but i wrote it. songs or singing these the rest of my life. come on. you have been singing his stuff, that you owed him at least one track. >> stevie has really inspired me. hathaway, those are the people just really who inspire me. tavis: what inspired you to choose the tracks on the new cd? boy," i alwayser do that sitting down, stripped-

down, beating on a drum, and i wanted to make it more south african chant and give it a different flavor. it has been done in so many ways, and then i felt that all of the songs needed to have something, and that is my identity, and i feel i always need to bring that through the music. even the donny hathaway song, mas," i added a twist, and i did not think about how i sounded. people have to hear you raw, cure you when you are porous, and there are so many records that are perfect, you know, trying to sing perfect every, every line, every syllable, and i just wanted to bring a little bit of home flavor to this album. unless you are having a

pitch perfect week, you are not point to be able to do that pitch perfect in seven days. >> because what i do is i plug the guitar into one channel, and i have the vocal in another channel, and then i pan it left and right, so i do not bleed over, and then take one, next song, "i'll be home for christmas," and i did that by page, and by saturday, i was done, and i told my record company president, i want to send you something, and tell me what you think, and he called me a couple days later and said, man, ok, i will pay for it. god, because i was, like, i will put it out on youtube if you are not going to want it. the label really supported it. you are a couple of pictures on there, me and my wife when we were engaged, and 30 years

later. tavis: you have got a beautiful family and a beautiful story, and i am glad that your countrymen will be around as well. yes, i am so proud. tohink eventually, i need have a room in cape town so i can go home. it is beautiful out there. it really is. i could live in cape town, if they ever take me out of here, which is possible. it is possible. i might be in cape town. the new project from my friend, jonathan butler, is called "merry christmas to you," and we are fortunate tonight, blessed, in fact, and we have already had some, "falling in love with jesus," and, jonathan, congratulations, and we will hear him live in a few minutes. jonathan butler, in a few minutes. ♪ conclude our holiday

show tonight with jonathan butler singing "o holy night" and "little drummer boy," and thanks for watching, and as always, keep the faith. ♪ ♪ ♪ told me, pa rum pa pum pum a newborn king to see, pa rum pa pum pum rumay before the king, pa

pa pum pum yeahwe come, boy, pa rum pa pum pum rumve no gifts to bring, pa pa pum pum to lay before the king, pa rum pa pum pum shall i play for you? pa rum pa pum pum on my drum yeah yeah i am a poor boy

pa rum pa pum pum bring no gifts to pa rum pa pum pum to lay before the king pa rum pa pum pum i have no gifts to bring pa rum pa pum pum me and my drum oh pumum pa pum puma pum ohhhhhhhhhhh ra pa pa pum me and my drum ra pa ra pa pum pum i have no gifts to bring pa rum pa pum pum

to lay before the king pa rum pa pum pum ra pum pum ♪ pum ♪ pa ra pa pa pum me and my drum ra pa pum rap a pum pum ohhhhhhhhhhh rap a pum pum ♪ oh oh pa pum ra pa pa pum ra pa pa pum ra pa pa pum ♪

[applause] ♪ ♪ holy night the stars are brightly shining it is the ninth --night of our dear savior's birth ♪ ♪ world lay the

error pining till he appeared worthe soul finds its a thrill of hope rejoicesorld breaks a new and glorious morn kneesn your the angels' voices

night divine night when christ was born o night divine night, divine ♪ ♪ oooh, fall on your knees angels' voices

o night divine oohhh, night when christ was born ♪ ♪ night divine o o night divine ♪

♪ nighto ooo night divine ♪ ♪ [applause] thank you. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with oscar and emmy winning actress jessica lange. that is next time. we will see you then. ♪

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ ♪ cer:

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