It’s not mom and dad’s “Pinball Wizard” you’ll find on the album, “Yala Yala”, from Toronto’s Sultans of String who like to add their own flair to popular music as they did with the 1969 hit by The Who.
A Spanish flamenco beat drives the track and where one is used to hearing The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey’s growling vocals there is a six string violin bubbling over with energy.
The man playing that violin is Chris McKhool, the front man for Sultans of String who are coming to the Rotary Performing Arts Centre (RPAC) in Okotoks for a 7 p.m. show Wednesday Jan. 19.
McKhool explained taking one of The Who’s rock anthems and turning it into a whimsical string piece it’s all part of his band’s fun loving identity.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he said.
The musician divulged that when it comes to selecting music to record and perform the Sultans of String have their criteria set in place.
“We have to pick pieces which first of all are great music,” he explained. “On top of that it has to be stuff that we want to be playing a lot. The third thing is there has to be something about a song where we can take it and make it really ours. There’s no use in taking “Pinball Wizard” and playing it like the original recording. What’s the point of that?”
The Sultans of String’s music has been described as “a spicy stew of Spanish flamenco, French manouche gypsy jazz, Middle Eastern folk and Cuban rhythms.”
In other words it’s a unique blend of musical influences from many areas of the globe. The group as it will appear in Okotoks consists of McKhool on violin, on guitar will be Kevin Laliberte, who has played with Celtic group The Chieftains, bass player Drew Birston and Cuban percussionist Chendy Leon.
Special guests for the concert at the RPAC on Jan. 19 are roots music group String Bone and folk singer/songwriter Nicole Aube, both from Ontario. Tickets for the show can be obtained by calling (403) 938-3204.
Performance headliners, Sultans of String, were Juno nominees in 2010 for instrumental album of the year for their second disc “Yala Yala” (Arabic for Come on! Let’s go!). Their first release was “Luna” in 2007, which featured McKhool recreating underwater whale songs with his violin on the title track.
While music without lyrics has been the general stock in trade for the band from its beginning, McKhool explained the group has begun to tinker with that formula.
“We’ve started singing a rumba, flamenco version of one of our favourite Neil Young tunes,” he said, “People will have to come to our show to hear which one it is.”
