Acclaimed Sultans of String to play live virtual show

Internationally acclaimed ensemble Sultans of String and special guests will perform a live virtual concert for SUNY Oswego’s Artswego program at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 13.

Featured on the New York Times Hits List and Billboard World Music charts, Sultans of String band members Chris McKhool, Kevin Laliberté and Drew Birston perform some of their greatest hits with special guests including Ojibway Elder Duke Redbird, flamenco dancer and singer Tamar Ilana, Juno-Award winning Hungarian pianist Robi Botos, Madagascar’s Donné Roberts and Yukiko Tsutsui from Japan.

Taking place over Zoom, the show is interactive, running about an hour followed by a talk-back Q&A session.

Sultans of String play what Maverick magazine calls “energetic and exciting music from a band with talent to burn.” 

With a genre-hopping repertoire that includes Celtic reels, flamenco, gypsy jazz, Arabic, Cuban and South Asian rhythms, the group celebrates musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass lays down unyielding grooves; acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound, while world rhythms call audiences to dance.

Since releasing their debut album “Luna” in 2007, they have continually strived to make each chart-topping album more original and meaningful than the last. That includes working with an orchestra (2013’s “Symphony”), teaming with Pakistani sitarist Anwar Khurshid (2015’s “Subcontinental Drift”) and crafting a world-music holiday album (2017’s “Christmas Caravan”). 

Their ambition and work ethic have garnered them multiple awards and accolades, including three Juno nominations (the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys), first place in the International Songwriting Competition (out of 15,000 entries), three Canadian Folk Music Awards and countless other honors.

With their historic and visionary seventh album “Refuge,” Sultans of String bring their unique brand of musical synergy and collaboration into the studio in their most

ambitious, diverse, inclusive and passionately political album. “Refuge” finds the Toronto-based Sultans working with a VIP roster of artists from around the globe — including American banjo master Béla Fleck, Israeli vocalist Yasmin Levy and others, like Iraqi violinist Imah Al Taha and Iranian santur master Amir Amiri, who have fled the peril and persecution of their homelands for the shores of North America.

Equally at home in a concert hall, jazz club or festival setting, the Sultans have gigged at the legendary club Birdland in New York, the renowned Celtic Connections Festival in the United Kingdom and the San Jose Jazz Festival. They have performed with symphonies across Canada and the U.S., and played live on BBC TV, Irish National Radio, World Cafe and SiriusXM in Washington, D.C.

Tickets, available via tickets.oswego.edu, are free for SUNY Oswego students; $8 for SUNY Oswego faculty, staff and alumni; and $10 for the general public (per household stream). A streaming link will be sent via email before the performance.

For more information on performing arts events at SUNY Oswego, visit oswego.edu/artswego.