Sultans of String

Sultans of String
http://www.sultansofstring.com
• 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards Triple Nomination (Best Instrumental Band, Best Ensemble, Pushing the Boundries)
• 2008 International Songrwriting Competetion Winner Instrumental
• Luna CD hit# 1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts International & World/Folk categories
• 2008 Festivals and Events Ontario- Best Variety Act
• 2008 Canadian Independent Music Awards Finalists- Favourite World Music Band
• 2008 International Independent Music Awards Finalists- Best World Fusion Song
• 2007 Musique de la Monde Award
• 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award nominees Best Instrumentalist Group
• 2007 Ontario Independent Music Award winner- Best Song
• 2007 Ontario Independent Music Award winner- Best Instrumental
• 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Winner- Best Latin Jazz Group
• 2007 Toronto Independent Music Award nominees World Music Category
• 2006 Ontario Council of Folk Festivals Songs of the Heart Competition Finalist World Music Category
• 2006 Toronto Independent Music Awards Nominees Best Instrumental Band

Chris McKhool and the boys were fantastic! They can play my Bar Mitzvah.
- Bob Ezrin, producer (Pink Floyd, Kiss)

Groundbreakingvirtuosoboundary pushinginfectiousvisionarybril liantabsolutely stunning!
- Sebastian Cook, The Live Music Report

Simply brilliant!
- Jeff Mifsud, 3NRG 99.3FM, Australia

GREAT Album! The uplifting energy that comes from these songs has earned it a permanent place in my cd player.
- Andy Dooley-Miller, KVMR, 89.5 FM, California

Sultans of String are Canadas ambassadors of musical diversity. The band romps through an energized adventure of Latin, Gypsyjazz, Middle Eastern and folk rhythms, celebrating musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar while a funk bass lays down unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound. World rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance.

Sultans of String have been called groundbreakingvirtuosoboundary pushing infectiousvisionary brilliantand absolutely stunning! (The Live Music Report). Their debut CD Luna soared to # 1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts, and won the award for Best Variety Act from Festivals & Events Ontario. They were finalists in the Toronto, Ontario, Canadian and International Independent Music Awards, winning both the best song and best instrumental categories for the 2007 Ontario Independent Music Awards.

2009 JUNO Award Nominee, six-string violinist and bandleader Chris McKhool grew up in a house bursting with music and diversity. His paternal Makhoul grandparents immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in the early 1900s. His Egyptian-born mother is a piano and theory teacher. Growing up Chris was fed a steady diet of delicious musicality along with Middle Eastern cuisine and violin lessons.

From a very young age Chris was taught the Canadian values of tolerance, respect for all peoples and celebration of culture. His passion for exploring the rhythms and melodies has led him to the far corners of the world, collecting instruments and styles everywhere he went. Travels to the Canadian Arctic, Indonesia, France, England, Cuba, Peru, Guatemala, Costa Rica and the Indian Himalayas to perform and conduct music workshops have added to his depth of musical and spiritual understanding of our global community. Chris has also guest starred internationally with Jesse Cook, Pavlo, Amanda Martinez and Club Django.

When Chris (who has performed with Jesse Cook and Pavlo) first heard founding guitarist Kevin Lalibertés rumba rhythm their musical mind-meld created the Sultans of Strings sound the intimate and playful relationship between violin and the flamenco guitar. Sultans of String includes such amazing musical friends as: guitarists Kevin Laliberté (who has toured around the world with Jesse Cook and the Chieftains) & Eddie Paton (Robert Michaels), bassists Drew Birston (Chantal Kreviazuk) & David Woodhead (Stan Rogers, Loreena McKennitt), Cuban master percussionists Chendy Leon & Alberto Suarez, Bassam Bishara (master oud player from Palestine), and vocalists Amanda Martinez (Latin) & Maryem Tollar (Arabic).

Touring as a trio to quintet, Chris draws from this collective of master musicians to bring Sultans of String to jazz, folk, classical and family audiences around the world including the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts (WA).
Sultans of String are also available for performances with a Cuban Trumpet Ensemble, and have an evening of music orchestrated for full symphony orchestra.