WHEN:
Thursday, January 12, 8pm, 2017
WHERE:
Banyan Bowl @ Pinecrest Gardens,
11000 Red Road, Miami, Florida 33156
TICKETS/INFO:
$35 (general) or $65 (VIP) | Phone 305-669-6990/877-877-7677 | Website: art4peace.net
2x JUNO (Canada’s Grammy) nominees & SiriusXM Award winners SULTANS OF STRING are sure to raise the rafters with their new, genre-hopping CD, Subcontinental Drift, at BANYAN BOWL, Thurs Jan 12, 2017 (8 pm, $35 or $65, 11000 Red Rd, Pinecrest, FL 33156, website: art4peace.net).
Proceeds from this great event go towards the Assyrian-American church, which has ground operations in several war-torn cities inside Syria.
An “energetic and exciting band with talent to burn!” (Maverick Magazine UK), Sultans of String thrill audiences with their musical passport of Celtic reels, Flamenco, Gypsy-jazz, Arabic, and Cuban rhythms. Fiery violin dances with kinetic guitar, while funky bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Throughout, acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound. They are touring non-stop in support of Subcontinental Drift, serving up messages of hope and cultural harmony alongside a feast of ragas, reels ‘n’ rumbas.
Since forming 10 years ago, Sultans of String have hit #1 across Canada on Top 10 national radio charts, and received multiple awards and accolades, including 1st place in the ISC (out of 15,000 entries), 2 Canadian Folk Music Awards, a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal for bandleader Chris McKhool, plus invitations to perform/record with such luminaries as The Chieftains, David Bromberg, and Livingston Taylor.
The band is led by 6-string violinist McKhool (Jesse Cook, Pavlo) who was raised in a Lebanese-Egyptian household just bursting with music and diversity. Growing up, Chris was fed a steady diet of delicious musicality alongside Middle Eastern cuisine and violin lessons. At the core of the band’s sound is his bold and fiery fiddle, melded seamlessly with founding guitarist Kevin Laliberté’s (Jesse Cook) rumba rhythm. Together their musical synergy created Sultans of String’s signature sound – the intimate and playful relationship between violin and guitar. Added to this rich foundation for this show is in-the-pocket bass master Drew Birston (Chantal Kreviazuk) and jaw-dropping percussionist Chendy Leon (Alex Cuba, Ron Sexsmith).
The band’s US manager and acclaimed promoter David Wilkes (Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Jeff Walker) states, “Over the decades, I’ve worked with numerous top ten and #1 Billboard artists. In all that time, I have not worked with composers more talented than Chris McKhool and Kevin Laliberté from Sultans of String. Not only are they a superb writing team, they are also amazing arrangers & musicians.
Sultans of String have been criss-crossing North America for the last several years at many taste-making forums such as JUNOFest, legendary jazz club Birdland in NYC, and California’s hip music scene, including the San Jose Jazz Festival. They recently sold out Koerner Hall (Toronto’s Carnegie Hall), and performed with Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Stratford, Ontario and Niagara Symphony Orchestras, as well with Kingsfield POPS in Maine. Sultans of String were recently filmed by MPBN’s Maine Arts! in a feature concert, and performed live on BBC TV, Irish National Radio, and the internationally syndicated shows WoodSongs, World Cafe, and on SiriusXM in Washington.
