Sultans of String violinist Chris McKhool said his band received a challenge while wrapping up its last album, Refuge.
The famed Toronto band created the album to highlight the experiences of immigrants and refugees in the country. Dr. Duke Redbird contributed to the album and used the band when they would do work highlighting the Indigenous experience.
“It was a very direct call to action,” McKhool said, adding that it prompted him to reach out to artists for collaboration. “At a certain point, I just put a map across my desk and said, ‘OK, let’s see if we can create an epic album and concert project that spans Indigenous artists from coast to coast to coast.”
The Sultans of String will bring that collaboration to Newmarket for a show June 21. As part of a larger tour, the Toronto group will utilize its latest album, Walking Through Fire, featuring Indigenous music collaborations meant to help highlight their concerns. The group said a central theme of the album is for the whole truth of the residential school and Indigenous experience to be told.
Coast Tsm’syen singer-songwriter Shannon Thunderbird is one of the collaborators for the album. She said it aligns well with call to number 83 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's calls to action, which is for a strategy for Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to undertake collaborative projects.
“If, through music, we as Indigenous people can tell our truth and, through music, we can collaborate in a beautiful way, then this goes a long way,” she said.
The album features Indigenous artists from across the country. The concert promises a multimedia performance with acts like the Northern Cree pow-wow group and Inuit folk singers Kendra Tagoona and Tracy Sarazin.
The collaboration was great, McKhool said.
“All of the artists are really fantastic and they come from very different musical backgrounds,” McKhool said. “We learned a lot during the process.”
The Town of Newmarket reached out to the band about including the town in its tour on Indigenous Peoples Day June 21, McKhool said. The show will take place at the Old Town Hall and is offering free admission.
“It’s a perfect day to be performing,” McKhool said.
The band has toured with the album throughout 2023 and 2024. It is currently touring around the GTA, with a show in Toronto to follow the Newmarket one.
“We want to go on tour in order to share our stories and share our music,” Shannon Thunderbird said of the tour. “Invite Indigenous people to come with us, to be with us,” she said. “
Free tickets are available on newtix.ca for the show starting at 7 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, 470 Botsford St.
“It’s an opportunity to experience an epic, Indigenous show that tells stories, that explains a lot, that the audience has an absolutely fantastic time,” Thunderbird said.
