The Sultans of String are in Winnipeg tonight (Dec 18) at the West End Cultural Centre as part of their tour to promote their brand new album Christmas Caravan. But first, founding members Chris McKhool and Kevin Laliberté stopped by the Classic 107 studio to chat with guest host Claudia Garcia de la Huerta. Missed it? Watch the video here!

2017 JUNO nominees and SiriusXM winners Sultans of String have been thrill their audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, Gypsy-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian rhythms, Sultans of String celebrate musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass and percussion lay down unstoppable grooves.

Since forming 10 years ago, Sultans of String’s CDs have hit #1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts, and have received multiple awards and accolades, including 3 JUNO (Canada’s Grammy) nominations, 1st place in the ISC (out of 15,000 entries), 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards, plus special guest recordings and sharing the stage with artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Paddy Moloney and The Chieftains, Richard Bona, Benoit Bourque (Bottine Souriante), Nikki Yanofsky, Alex Cuba, Ruben Blades, Crystal Shawanda, and Ken Whiteley.

With their 6th album, Christmas Caravan, Sultans of String have expanded the traditional notion of Christmas music, injecting it with new-found energy and non-traditional sounds. Recorded and co-produced with JUNO Award winning engineer John ‘ Beetle’ Bailey, this isn’t your typical holiday album. You may recognize a few titles, but you’ve never experienced seasonal music quite like this before.

“We wanted to make a real contribution to the Christmas repertoire, and hopefully create some new standards” says violinist Chris McKhool. “This is a seasonal album, but approached from the perspective of a world-music band. We explored diverse genres, from Quebecois fiddle tunes to collaborating with a traditional Turkish string ensemble, and jump around from the classic sounds of the Andrews Sisters, to a Himalayan sleigh ride, African roots music, Gypsy-jazz, rumba flamenco, ska, and the grandeur of the symphony.”

Christmas Caravan hit #6 on BILLBOARD World Music charts in the first week of it’s release.

Here is Claudia Garcia de la Huerta's interview with McKhool and guitarist Kevin Laliberté.

 

 

 

The Sultans of String are performing in Winnipeg Monday night at the West End Cultural Centre. (586 Ellice Ave)

Doors open at 7:15 PM and showtime is 8 PM.

Tickets are just $20 and available at the door.