3x JUNO nominees and Billboard chart-toppers Sultans of String are excited to announce the Toronto Premiere of Walking Through The Fire-Visual Album, a musical film experience unlike any other. This special film brings the magic of collaboration to the screen, with award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island/Canada.
Presented by the Redbird Therapy Centre, Cecil Community Centre, and Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto, the Premiere will feature opening remarks with Dr. Duke Redbird, and an Artist meet & greet VIP Reception with live music. The Film will be followed by a powerful Q&A panel with artists from the film including Dr. Duke Redbird, Shannon Thunderbird, Marc Merilaïnen, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, as well as filmmaker and Sultans of String producer Chris McKhool. 100% of the ticket price will be donated to the Native Women’s Resource Centre.
This production comes on the heels of their Cannes World Film Festival winning visual album/documentary, The Refuge Project.
WHEN: Friday, November 1, 2024 – VIP Reception: 7:00-7:30pm | Film Screening and Artist Panel: 8:00-10:00pm
WHAT: ‘Walking Through the Fire’ Film Screening Premiere presented by: Redbird Therapy Centre, Cecil Community Centre, and Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto
Opening remarks with Dr. Duke Redbird, and Artist meet & greet VIP Reception with live music. Film will be followed by a powerful Q&A panel with artists from the film including Dr. Duke Redbird, Shannon Thunderbird, Marc Merilaïnen, Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, as well as filmmaker and Sultans of String producer Chris McKhool. 100% of the ticket price will be donated to the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto.
WHERE: Cecil Community Centre, 58 Cecil St, Toronto
Walking Through the Fire: Visual Album is a musical film experience unlike any other. From Métis fiddling to an East Coast Kitchen Party, rumba to rock, to the drumming of the Pacific Northwest, experience the beauty and diversity of music from Turtle Island with Elder and poet Dr. Duke Redbird, the Métis Fiddler Quartet, Ojibwe/Finnish Singer-Songwriter Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Coast Tsm’syen Singer Shannon Thunderbird, The North Sound from the Prairies, Blues singer Crystal Shawanda, Heavy-Wood guitarist Don Ross, Northern Cree pow wow group, Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday, Inuit Throat Singers and more! Experience in full DOLBY ATMOS. 80 Minutes.
A central theme running through Walking Through The Fire is the need for the truth of Indigenous experience to be told before reconciliation can begin in earnest. Embedded in the title is the energy of rebirth: fire destroys, but it also nourishes the soil to create new growth, beauty, and resiliency. Walking Through The Fire ensures that we emerge on the other side together, stronger and more unified.
Sultans of String created this project in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action, and Final Report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together as an opportunity to show a path forward. Says bandleader Chris McKhool (whose grandfather was a stowaway from Lebanon at the turn of the last century), “We know that as a society we can’t move ahead without acknowledging and reflecting on the past. Before reconciliation can occur, the full truth of the Indigenous experience in this country needs to be told, so we’ve been calling on Indigenous artists to share with us their stories, their experience, and their lives, so we settler Canadians can continue our learning about the history of genocide, residential schools, and of inter-generational impacts of colonization.”
Bandleader Chris McKhool (Makhoul in Lebanon) has an Egyptian-born mother who happened to play piano, teach classical theory, and feed her young son as much Middle Eastern cuisine as she did music lessons. From there, the powerful violinist developed a taste for multi-genre string sounds and found a like-minded crew of all-world enthusiasts. When McKhool first heard founding guitarist Kevin Laliberté’s rumba rhythm, their musical synergy created Sultans of String’s signature sound – the intimate and playful relationship between violin and guitar. From this rich foundation, the dynamic duo grew, featuring such amazing musical friends as in-the-pocket bass master Drew Birston, and the jaw-dropping beats of percussionist Chendy Leon.
Their live resume is similarly stellar. Equally at home in a concert hall, folk and jazz club or festival setting, the Sultans have gigged at JUNOfest, the legendary club Birdland in New York, Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow) and London’s Trafalgar Square. They have sold out Koerner Hall three times (Toronto’s Carnegie Hall), and performed with the Annapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton Symphony Orchestras. They have played live on CBC’s Canada Live, BBC Radio, BBC TV, Irish National Radio, and the syndicated World Café, Woodsongs, and SiriusXM in Washington. Sultans of String’s musicianship and versatility are also showcased in collaborations with such diverse luminaries as Paddy Moloney & The Chieftains, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Richard Bona (Paul Simon), Alex Cuba, Ruben Blades, Yasmin Levy, Benoit Bourque, Béla Fleck, Crystal Shawanda & Ken Whiteley.
