Few are more conscious in their journey through Appalachian histories and the Canadian musical landscape than Kaia. Born in Montreal, Kaia has lived Winnipeg, Wakefield and, most recently, West Virginia, she now resides in Toronto. Her old-time banjo-picking skills, deft arrangements, and songwriting abilities have landed her in the spotlight in North America and the UK, garnering critical acclaim from outlets such as Rolling Stone, CBC Music and The Roots Music Report.  Often praised for her capacity to sound new and old at once, Kaia anchors her music the space where tradition and innovation intersect.

ABOUT NINE PIN
The new album from young African-Canadian roots phenom Kaia Kater couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, American roots music is needed more than ever to remind us of the troubled pathways of our own history. Born of African-Caribbean descent in Québec, Kaia Kater grew up between two worlds: one her family’s deep ties to Canadian folk music in her Toronto home; the other the years she spent learning and studying Appalachian music in West Virginia. Her acclaimed debut album Sorrow Bound (May 2015) touched on this divide, but her new album, Nine Pin (May 2016), delves even further, and casts an unflinching eye at the realities faced by people of colour in North America every day. Her songs on the new album are fueled by her rich low tenor vocals, jazz-influenced instrumentation, and beautifully understated banjo, and they’ve got as much in common with Kendrick Lamar right now as they do with Pete Seeger.
 
Recorded in just one day in Toronto, Nine Pin was produced by both Kater and acclaimed Canadian artist Chris Bartos (The Barr Brothers, Jonathan Byrd), who also produced her last album, Sorrow Bound Few artists could pull off such a polished, cohesive album in one day, but Kater felt that this actually lent focus to the project. As a concept album, Nine Pin weaves between hard-hitting songs that touch on modern issues like the Black Lives Matter movement (“Rising Down,” “Paradise Fell”) and more personal narratives speaking to life and love in the digital age (“Saint Elizabeth”). And while these larger stories are deftly crafted, this is really an album of moments. Kater’s a cappella voice speaking to the loneliness of a city in “Harlem’s Little Blackbird” while solo dance steps echo in the background, the muted hesitancy of Caleb Hamilton’s trumpet breaking the trance of “Little Pink,” the smoke of electric guitar that cuts through “Saint Elizabeth,” the wave-like ebb and flow of piano behind the plaintive love poem “Viper’s Nest…” All of these moments point to an artist wise beyond her years. 

"...plaintive, mesmerizing...writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran..." -Rolling Stone

"You want some authenticity in your folk music or bluegrass – I give you Kaia Kater." -No Depression

"A star in the making..."
-Folk Alley

“...One of the most remarkable Canadian folk records in some time...Kater's music is somehow ancient and brand new at the same time.”
-Tom Power, CBC Radio 2 
 
"Sorrow Bound is a remarkably assured debut album which both honours tradition and declares Kater’s credentials as a distinctive, original artist."  Steve Hunt - fRoots Magazine (UK) - October 2015


Singer, writer, and director. Colombiana.

Stream/ Buy After the Storm now! https://KaliUchis.lnk.to/ATS

All Inquiries: contact@kaliuchis.com

Cantante, compositor, guitarrista, músico y productor Colombiano. Su música es una fusión de rock con ritmos colombianos como el vallenato, la cumbia, el mapalé y otros ritmos internacionales como el flamenco, la trova y el tango. Declarado por el diario Los Angeles Times como “la figura más importante de la música Latina en la última década”, Juanes es ganador de 12 Grammys Latinos y nombrado por la revista Time como una de las “100 personas más influyentes en el Mundo”. Juanes es actualmente el artista latino de rock con más ventas en todo el mundo y el activista social más prominente del género. Su segundo álbum Un Día Normal logró establecer el récord como el disco con mayor tiempo en el Top 10 de las listas de ventas en Estados Unidos.

Declared "the single most important figure of the past decade in Latin pop music" by the Los Angeles Times, JUANES is a TWELVE-TIME LATIN GRAMMY WINNER who TIME Magazine selected as "One of the 100 Most Influential People in the World." The top-selling Latin rock artist in the world and the genre's leading social activist, Juanes' multi-platinum breakthrough album "Un Dia Normal" set the record for the longest Top-10 chart run in Latin music history. Likewise notching an astounding two-year chart run, the guitarist/singer-songwriter's critically acclaimed follow-up "Mi Sangre" (My Blood) sold over 4 million copies while bringing Juanes to 1 on the charts throughout Latin America, the U.S. and across Europe.

3x JUNO nominees and SiriusXM winners Sultans of String create “Energetic and exciting music from a band with talent to burn!” (Maverick Magazine UK). Thrilling audiences with their genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, Django-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian rhythms, fiery violin dances with kinetic guitar, while bass and percussion lay down unstoppable grooves. Throughout, acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth of sound. With their 5th album, Subcontinental Drift, they serve up a blend of ragas, reels and rumbas with sitar master Anwar Khurshid (featured in the Oscar winning Life of Pi, Kama Sutra, and Love Guru). Fusing the virtuosic talent of Anwar Khurshid adds to their truly global and mesmerizing sound!”

With their 6th album, Christmas Caravan, Sultans of String have expanded the traditional notion of Christmas music, injecting it with new-found energy and non-traditional sounds. Recorded and co-produced with JUNO Award winning engineer John ‘Beetle’ Bailey, this isn’t your typical holiday album. You may recognize a few titles, but you’ve never experienced seasonal music quite like this before. “We wanted to make a real contribution to the Christmas repertoire, and hopefully create some new standards” says McKhool. “This is a seasonal album, but approached from the perspective of a world-music band. We explored diverse genres, from Quebecois fiddle tunes to collaborating with a traditional Turkish string ensemble, and jump around from the classic sounds of the Andrews Sisters, to a Himalayan sleigh ride, African roots music, Gypsy-jazz, rumba flamenco, ska, and the grandeur of the symphony.” Christmas Caravan hit #6 on BILLBOARD World Music charts in the first week of it’s release.

Since forming 10 years ago, Sultans of String’s CDs have hit #1 across Canada on Top 10 national radio charts, and received multiple awards and accolades, including 3 JUNO (Canada’s Grammy) nominations, 1st place in the ISC (out of 15,000 entries), 3 Canadian Folk Music Awards, plus invitations to perform/record with such luminaries as The Chieftains, Richard Bona, and Ruben Blades.

Bandleader Chris McKhool (Jesse Cook, Pavlo), who was awarded a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, grew up in a Lebanese-Egyptian (Makhoul) house bursting with music and diversity. Growing up, he was fed a steady diet of delicious musicality alongside Middle Eastern cuisine and violin lessons.

When McKhool first heard founding guitarist Kevin Laliberté’s (Jesse Cook) rumba rhythm, their musical synergy created Sultans of String’s signature sound – the intimate and playful relationship between violin and guitar. From this rich foundation, the dynamic duo grew, featuring such amazing musical friends bass master Drew Birston (Chantal Kreviazuk), jaw-dropping Cuban percussionist Rosendo Chendy Leon (Alex Cuba, Parachute Club), guitarist Eddie Paton (Robert Michaels), as well as special guests such as Dala and Alex Cuba.

Sultans of String have been criss-crossing North America for the last several years at many taste-making forums such as JUNOFest, legendary jazz club Birdland in NYC, the renowned Celtic Connections Festival in the UK, US syndicated radio, and their sold-out show at Koerner Hall (Toronto’s Carnegie Hall).

Management:
yeoram@martinsolveig.com
ludivine@martinsolveig.com
Music Curator:
mika@kopg.co.uk 


Booking:
US - paul@amonly.com
Europe & Asia - cris.hearn@codaagency.com

PR:
martinsolveig.team@listen-up.biz

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