A sizable crowd welcomed the Canadian trio, Sultans of String, to the Carpenter Auditorium stage at Pratt Community College for the last community concert of the season May 7 at the Pratt Community College Carpenter Auditorium.

Band-leader and violinist, Chris McKhool, said that the group’s 2022 appearance in Pratt was part of a tour slated to begin in March 2020, adding, “We finally made it.”

Besides McKhool, this mostly instrumental concert featured Kevin Laliberté on guitar and Drew Birston on bass.

The best way to describe the Sultans’ sound is “world music,” though many tunes dipped into the New Age category.

Several songs the group performed were ideally suited to closing your eyes and letting the music transport you into another space. Some tunes ideally suited for such sound journeys included “Road to Kfarmishki,” “Luna the “Whale,” and “Hills of Green,” all of which were original songs.

In fact, most of the concert featured original compositions.

Another enjoyable dimension of the show were the stories that introduced various songs. Before the Sultans performed “Road to Kfarmishki,” McKhool shared about a trip he and his father made to the Christian village (Kfarmishki) in Lebanon from which his grandfather emigrated to Canada in the early 1900s. On that homeland visit, his father discovered a first cousin he had never met before.

Other songs had similar, interesting stories attached.

Guitarist Laliberté educated the audience about his unique, carbon-fiber guitar, which he said is better suited to traveling than the traditional wood guitar, which warps and gets out of tune more easily. He added a caveat that playing this black guitar at an outside concert on a hot, sunny day may result in more than a sunburn for the picker.

One fun part of the concert was when McKhool gave Laliberté an opportunity to demonstrate his versatility. The band leader named a style of music from somewhere in the world and Laliberté played a riff for each one.

While the band performed a wide range of music from around the planet, two personal favorites were the vocal “A Place to Call Home” and instrumental “Monti’s Revenge,” again both original tunes.

By mixing it up with their diverse repertoire of music, Sultans of String provided the perfect ending for the 2021-22 Pratt Community Concert season.

Don’t miss the 2022-23 concert series. It’s sure to be filled with outstanding talent and great music.

For more information or to purchase season tickets, contact Bev Aldrich at beva2@cox.net.