#MyMusicStory

Submitted by: Chris McKhool (Twitter,Facebook,Instagram,YouTube)

Music has such power to bring people together in a way no other art form can even come close. I was 13 when I went to see Peter Gabriel in 1982 at the Ottawa Civic Centre, touring his Security album. I was already a die hard Gabriel fan, and this was a killer band including Jerry Marotta on drums and Tony Levin playing stick, but at that show all our minds were collectively blown by Gabriel during Lay Your Hands on Me.

He sang the lyrics, parked the band in groove mode, walked to the edge of the stage, turned his back to the audience, and slowly leaned back, gently falling into the audience. That show was already pretty much the closest to a religious experience I have ever had at a concert, but that put it over the top. The unbelievable trust in his fans. He was passed around for many minutes, and I did get to touch him, although that is not really the important point. What was so amazing was how, after being supported and carried around for a while, the crowd passed him right back to the stage so he could finish the song. Gabriel said this song was "about trust, about healing and sacrifice.” I have always admired him for his honesty and courage.

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Three-time JUNO Award nominees and Billboard charting band Sultans of String creates “energetic and exciting music from a band with talent to burn!” according to Maverick magazine. Thrilling their audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, gypsy-jazz, Arabic, Cuban and South Asian rhythms, the group celebrates musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass and percussion lay down unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with an irresistible need to dance.