Nîmihito (Dance) - Sultans of String feat. Northern Cree

Stream/buy Album: https://sultansofstring.lnk.to/Walkin...
Physical CD order: https://merchmrkt.com/collections/sul...

Come see Walking Through the Fire LIVE in concert! https://sultansofstring.com/calendar/

2024
Jan 19 - Ottawa  Meridian Theatres at Centrepointe
Jan 23 - Kingston  Kingston Grand Theatre – Education & Evening show
Jan 25 - Brampton   Rose Theatre – Education & Evening show
Jan 30 - Guelph   River Run Centre Education show
Jan 31 - Guelph   River Run Centre Education show
Feb 1 - Guelph   River Run Centre – Education & Evening show
Feb 2 - Scarborough - Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra
Mar 2 – Winnipeg  Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Mar 3 – Winnipeg  Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
April 15 – Markham  Flato Markham Theatre – Education Show
April 16 – Markham  Flato Markham Theatre – Education Show
April 18 – Mississauga - Peel School Board Education
May 31 – Midland - Midland Cultural Centre
June 9 – Hamilton Arts Week - Westdale Theatre
June 17 – Waterloo - University of Waterloo
June 21 – Newmarket - Old Town Hall
June 22 – Toronto CD Release - Hugh’s Room Live
June 23 – Kitchener-Waterloo Multicultural Festival
Aug 9-11 – Edmonton Folk Festival Main Stage

Please click here to learn more, including how we are including cultural safeguards in our work on this project: https://sultansofstring.com/2023/08/w...

Northern Cree: https://northerncree82.com
Sultans of String: https://sultansofstring.com

Nîmihito (Dance) is a collaboration between 3x JUNO nominated, 4x CFMA winning Sultans of String and Northern Cree, a nine-time Grammy nominated pow wow and round dance group from Treaty 6 territory in Canada, who have released more than 50 albums over their 40-year history. The video also features dancer Alicia Kewageshig, as well as City Of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra with arrangement by Ben Bolt-Martin!

“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.

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, 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 Steve: “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.”

Studio sessions 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 Ontario, with Sultans band members Chris McKhool and Kevin Laliberté co-producing along with Grammy and JUNO winning John ‘Beetle’ Bailey.

The dancer in the video is Alicia Kewageshig who joined the group at the Kettle and Stony Point Pow Wow. Alicia is Ojibwe/Potawatomi from Stoney Point First Nation & Saugeen First Nation. She is 19 years old and currently a full time student at Western University.


Lyrics

Nîmîhito
Nîmîhito
Sâsohkesimow
Sâsipwehôpikek ekwa
Ônimihitowiniwak

Dance
Dance
Dance hard
All start hopping now
Dancers

"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... That's really good”
- Honourable Murray Sinclair - Ojibwe Elder - former chair of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission

Many thanks for the support of non-Indigenous funding streams of the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts for their support of this project.