The Lethbridge Folk Club Wolf’s Den was packed to the rafters for a fun, globe-trotting set by the Sultans of String, Feb 11.
The Toronto quartet were having a lot of fun on stage playing a variety of up-tempo instrumentals which drew heavily from the musical wells of Celtic music, jazz, blues and a plethora of Afro-Cuban and Arabic influenced rhythms.
“Everything sounds better with a rumba and flamenco rhythm,” chortled beaming frontman/ violinist Chris McKhool as he and the band got the audience to clap along. Guitarist Kevin Laliberté got to show how diverse the band is as McKhool exhorted him to play an array of styles including classical, blues, jazz, ’80s rock, bossa nova and Cuban salsa while the other band members danced to the rhythm.
And while they are primarily an instrumental band, they showed they could sing and harmonize very well during a hot version of Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.”
They wound down their set on an energetic note by inviting opening act Phrashant John on stage to play Arabic flute with them.
