A special album, Walking Through the Fire, showcases the magic of collaboration with award-winning First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island (USA/Canada) joined by Billboard charting/6x CFMA winners Sultans of String! 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 Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk of the Métis Fiddler Quartet, Ojibwe/Finnish Singer-Songwriter Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Coast Tsm’syen Singer-Songwriter Shannon Thunderbird, Elder and poet Dr. Duke Redbird, the Northern Cree pow wow group, Inuit Throat Singers Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin, and many more!
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 of the show 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 recording 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.”
For “Walking Through The Fire”, Sultans of String worked with Indigenous artistic advisors including Chippewa/Anishinaabe Elder and poet collaborator Dr. Duke Redbird, who says:
“The place that we have to start is with truth. Reconciliation will come sometime way in the future, perhaps, but right now, truth is where we need to begin the journey with each other. As human beings, we have to acquire that truth.”
Several other Indigenous musicians, designers and filmmakers have been guiding the band on this project, including designer Mark Rutledge, and Indigenous filmmakers/videographers Eliza Knockwood and Marc Merilänen.
They also met with the Honorable Murray Sinclair, Ojibwe Elder and former chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission to speak about the project, who reflected;
“The very fact that you’re doing this tells me that you believe in the validity of our language, you believe in the validity of our art and our music and that you want to help to bring it out. And that’s really what’s important, is for people to have faith that we can do this.”
WHO IS ON “WALKING THROUGH THE FIRE” CD?
Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk – Métis Violist
Crystal Shawanda – Ojibwe Potawatomi Singer-Songwriter
Don Ross – Mi’kmaw Guitarist
Dr. Duke Redbird – Chippewa/Anishinaabe Elder and Poet
The North Sound – with Forrest Eaglespeaker – Blackfoot Singer-Songwriter & Nevada Freistadt
Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin – Inuit Throat Singers
Leanne Taneton – Dene Spoken Word
Leela Gilday – Dene Singer-Songwriter
Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan) – Ojibwe/Finnish Singer-Songwriter
Métis Fiddler Quartet
MJ Dandeneau – Métis Bassist
Northern Cree – Pow Wow group
Raven Kanatakta of Digging Roots – Anishinabe Algonquin / Onkwehón:we Mohawk – Songwriter, Singer, Guitar
Shannon Thunderbird – Tsm’syen Elder Singer-Songwriter & Kate Dickson – Tsm’syen Singer
And Sultans of String band regulars Chris McKhool (violin), Kevin Laliberté (guitar), Drew Birston (bass), Rosendo ‘Chendy’ Leon (drums and percussion)
And here are some music videos:
• The Rez – feat. Crystal Shawanda https://youtu.be/rGa2OjdJgrI
• Black Winged Raven – feat. Shannon Thunderbird and friends https://youtu.be/ycx9Vw1-uxg
• Nîmihito (Dance) – feat. Northern Cree https://youtu.be/lICoyJlwh8s
• A Beautiful Darkness – feat. Marc Merilänen (Nadjiwan) https://youtu.be/f-4YIdWOqU0
• Take Off The Crown – Lyric Video- feat. Raven Kanatakta of Digging Roots https://youtu.be/VujifeK1Sq0
• Our Mother The Earth – feat. Duke Redbird https://youtu.be/DwsfFgctFX0
• Humma – feat. Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin https://youtu.be/WUaIKn3chCE?si=NbQU-8jNttXiuzKi
