Sultans of String

• 2013 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for bandleader Chris McKhool • 2013 SiriusXM Canadian Indie Awards Nominee for World Group of the Year • 2012 Canadian Folk Music Award quadruple nominee – Instrumental Group of the Year, World Group of the Year, and Pushing The Boundaries.Bandleader McKhool also nominated for Producer of the Year. • 2012 Festivals & Events- Entertainer of The Year • 2011 Ontario Contact – Artist of the Year • 2011 International Acoustic Music Awards Finalist – Instrumental • 2011 Independent Music Award Finalist – Instrumental Album - Yalla Yalla! • 2011 Independent Music Award Finalist – World Beat Album - Yalla Yalla! • 2011 ISC International Songwriting Competition Finalist- "Auyuittuq Sunrise”- Instrumental category • 2011 ISC International Songwriting Competition Finalist- "Gardens Of Lebanon"- World Music category • 2010 JUNO Award Nominees for Yalla Yalla! – Instrumental Album of the Year • 2010 Canadian Independent Music Awards nominees- Favourite World Artist/Group • 2009 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) winners – Instrumental • 2009 Canadian Folk Music Award triple nominee with Sultans winning Instrumental Group of the Year (also nominated for Ensemble of the Year and Pushing the Boundries) • 2009 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Winner- Best Toronto World CD • 2009 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Winner- Artist of the Year • Luna CD hit #1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts – “International” & ” World/Folk” categories • 2008 International Songwriting Competition Winner (ISC) – Instrumental • 2008 Festivals & 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 du Monde Award • 2007 Canadian Folk Music Award nominees – Best Instrumentalist Group • 2007 Ontario Independent Music Award winner- Best Song & Best Instrumental • 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award Winner- Best Latin Jazz Group • 2007 Toronto Independent Music Award nominees – World Music Category “They are players without borders… world music that transcends place and time with a heavy dose of playfulness added in.” - The Vancouver Province “Chris McKhool and the boys were fantastic! They can play my Bar Mitzvah.” - Bob Ezrin, producer (Pink Floyd, Kiss) “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 “Virtuoso playing…. An exuberant and infectious sound… Powerful and moving…The Sultans are simply an awesome musical group!” - Mike Hill, Artistic Director, Mariposa Folk Festival “The Sultans win the admiration of audiences everywhere they play because they strike the perfect balance between brainy composition and fun execution! - Sunfest, 2008 2010 JUNO Award nominees and “Canada’s ambassadors of musical diversity” Sultans of String thrill their audiences with their global sonic tapestry of Spanish Flamenco, Arabic folk, Cuban rhythms, and French Manouche Gypsy-jazz, 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, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance. The band is riding a wave of success from their sold out Yalla Yalla! Canadian CD release tour, to their national features on CTV’s CanadaAM and CBC’s Canada Live, and now word of their triple nomination for the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, winning Instrumental Group of the Year. Their debut CD Luna soared to #1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts, and the Sultans of String won the award for Best Variety Act from Festivals & Events Ontario as well as the 2008 International Songwriting Competition! The buzz extends into the U.S., with acclaimed promoter David Wilkes (Emmylou Harris, Bela Fleck, Jesse Cook) now representing the band. 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 1900’s. 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 McKhool 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. When McKhool (who has performed with Jesse Cook and Pavlo) first heard founding guitarist Kevin Laliberté’s rumba rhythm their musical mind-meld created the Sultans of String’s sound – the intimate and playful relationship between violin and the flamenco guitar. Sultans of String includes such amazing musical friends as: guitarists Kevin Laliberté (Jesse Cook, the Chieftains) & Eddie Paton (Robert Michaels), bass masters Drew Birston (Chantal Kreviazuk) & David Woodhead (Stan Rogers, Loreena McKennitt), Cuban master percussionists Chendy Leon & Alberto Suarez, and Bassam Bishara (master oud player from Palestine) Touring as a trio to quintet, McKhool draws from this collective of master musicians to bring Sultans of String to community, festival and intermediate/high school school audiences including the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, Mariposa Folk Festival, National Arts Centre, Alberta’s Dow Centennial Centre, Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre, and Folk Alliance in Memphis, TN. Sultans of String are also available for performances with a Cuban Trumpet Ensemble, and have an evening of music orchestrated for full symphony orchestra.