Sultans Of String and Northern Cree are right in step on their new single and video Nîmihito (Dance) — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
A collaboration between Juno-nominated, CFMA-winning Sultans and the Grammy-nominated Northern Cree — a pow wow and round dance group from Treaty 6 territory in Canada who have released more than 50 albums over their 40-year history — Nîmihito (Dance) is also the first single from the upcoming Sultans Of String album Walking Through The Fire. Due Sept 22, the release aims to be the most important project of their career: A CD and concert of collaborations with First Nations, Metis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island.
“We are creating 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 Sultans Of String bandleader and violinist Chris McKhool, who was recently awarded the Dr. Duke Redbird Lifetime Achievement Award from the JAYU Festival For Human Rights x Arts.
“We know that as a society we can’t move ahead without acknowledging and reflecting on the past,” McKhool says. “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 residential schools, of genocide, and of inter-generational impacts of colonization.”
Steve Wood from Northern Cree continues: “When you’re collaborating with mainstream music, it shows that we can work together to bring out the very best in who we are as human beings. And that’s what music does. It shows that we can work together and we can bring out something very beautiful. And it’s giving our music an opportunity for a different type of audience out there. There’s a lot of people that are just catching on to our type of music, which has been here since time immemorial. I think it’s great.”
The Cree lyrics of Nîmihito (Dance), written by Leroy Woodstone, talk to the dancer about dancing and dancing hard and feeling the beat of the drum, encouraging the dancer to get down. But there’s also an educational role in the song, says Wood: “A big, strong component of it is to teach our people and other First Nations people about the Cree language. It’s the very tip of who we are and of our ceremonies, pow wow is. It brings other people into our circle.”
“The drum is also a very spiritual tool because when you look at the drum, somebody’s grandparent, mother, father, child gave its life for that head of the drum, because that was an animal, and is very much alive. Now, the rim is made from the tree. And we really look deep, the tree can teach us a lot because they’re alive. They can teach us about the relationships we have with everything around us and everyone else. And that person, those people that came to put that drum together, they had spirits, too. And they put their own spirit in the drum. And that’s where all the energy comes from.”
Studio sessions for the song were spread across two provinces, with Northern Cree parts recorded at StudioBell at The National Music Centre in Calgary, produced by The Halluci Nation (Bear Witness, 2oolman) with recording engineer Graham Lessard. Sultans Of String tracks were recorded at Jukasa Studios, an Indigenous-owned world-class recording facility on the Six Nations reserve south of Hamilton, Ont., with Sultans’ McKhool and Kevin Laliberté co-producing alongside Grammy and Juno winner John ‘Beetle’ Bailey. The two groups met at Kettle and Stony Point’s Annual Pow Wow in the summer of ’22
Numerous other Indigenous artists are taking part in Walking Through The Fire, including Crystal Shawanda, Dr. Duke Redbird, North Sound with Forrest Eaglespeaker, Kendra Tagoona & Tracy Sarazin, Leanne Taneton, Leela Gilday, Marc Meriläinen (Nadjiwan), Digging Roots and Shannon Thunderbird.
Watch the video for Nîmihito (Dance) above, catch Sultans Of Strings on tour (dates below), and find them at their website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Sultans Of String Tour Dates
January 19 – SRSS Theatre, Steinbach, MB
January 20 – Pinawa Community Centre, Pinawa, MB
January 21 – William Glesby Centre, Portage la Prairie, MB
February 13 – Hillside Inside, Guelph, ON
March 17 – Shelton Auditorium, Shelton, WA
March 18 – Edmonds Center for the Arts, Edmonds, WA
March 20 – Poncan Theatre, Ponca City, OK
March 23 – Fine Arts Center – Western NM University, Silver City, NM
March 25 – Payson Auditorium, Payson, AZ
March 27 – Performing Arts Center, Lake Havasu City, AZ
March 28 – Mohave High School Auditorium, Bullhead City, AZ
March 30 – Borrego Springs Performing Arts Center, Borrego Springs, CA
April 15 – First Presbyterian Church, Lincoln, NE
May 12 – Marble Arts Centre, Tweed ON
May 13 – Bancroft Village Playhouse, Bancroft ON
May 14 – Bryan Jones Theatre, Lakefield College, Lakefield, ON
May 26 – Brockville Arts Centre, Brockville, ON
