Enjoy the upbeat, uplifting sounds of the new single from Sultans of String, featuring the harmonious voices of The North Sound. The artists have great musicality and technical ability but there’s also a refreshing, infectious joy in their performances. ‘Sweet Alberta’ delivers the lovely layers expected from Sultans of String, with the highlight being Chris McKhool’s surging, powerful violin, played with energy and a smile. For this song, the usual band members are joined by The North Sound, a group led by singer-songwriter Forrest Eaglespeaker, who is supported by his wife Nevada Eaglespeaker on backing vocals. Together, their voices are smoothly melodic and combine effortlessly.
‘Sweet Alberta’ is a beautifully evocative ode to a place and people, created in the spirit of togetherness and cultural enrichment. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and Final Report promotes Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists to work together, collaborating with one another to acknowledge the past and create a better future. This single is taken from the Sultan of String’s new album, ‘Walking Through Fire’, which is a collection of songs written and performed with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island.
The album’s title and themes reference recent forest fires in Canada. Fire brings fear and destruction. However, Indigenous art director Mark Rutledge presents a different view: “You’ll see the burnt-out husks of trees and the ash and the charcoal on the landscape. But fireweed is the first plant after a forest fire that emerges, and you’ll see rivers and fields of magenta within the barren landscape,and those nutrients are going back into the soil for the next generation of trees and flowers and regrowth. The other side of fear is growth and potential with collaboration between non-Indigenous and Indigenous people. When we drop the word reconciliation on people, there’s a large group of people who don’t understand what that means. And when you don’t understand something, you are fearful of it. But if we go through the same experience together, we walk through that fire together, and we come out together on the other end and have that unified experience together, that’s the power in this album.”
Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, violist with Métis Fiddler Quartet, adds: “We are opening doors for each other, as Indigenous peoples, as settler peoples. This project is about creating connections and spaces to learn from each other.”
Chris McKhool, the violinist for Sultans of String, was recently awarded the Dr. Duke Redbird Lifetime Achievement Award by Redbird and JAYU Arts for Human Rights for his efforts to use musical collaborations to highlight the truth, which is the starting point for reconciliation. He continues: “This country has a history that has been ignored, distorted, twisted to suit colonialist goals of destroying a people.We are so fortunate for the opportunity to work with Indigenous artists, sharing their stories, their experiences, and their lives with us, so we can continue our work of learning about the history of residential schools, genocide, and inter-generational impacts of colonisation. Music has a special capacity for healing, connecting, and expressing truth.”
When listeners understand the concept and context for this music, ‘Sweet Alberta’ and the other songs on the album take on greater significance and generate an emotional power. Three-times JUNO nominees and winners of first place in the International Songwriting Competition, Sultans of String are known for an adventurous blend of styles, from Celtic reels and flamenco to Cuban and South Asian rhythms. Soaring fiddle, electric guitar and pulsing bass combine to lift their audiences and make people want to move. The group has an adventurous approach to music; previous projects have involved working with an orchestra, creating a world music holiday album and collaborating with Pakistani sitarist Anwar Khurshid. ‘Walking Through Fire’ is a positive next step on the Sultans’ musical journey.
