Kokopelli is a fertility deity, usually depicted as a humpbacked flute player, who is venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture. He is also a trickster god and represents the spirit of music.
Indigenous music of North America, which includes American Indian music or Native American music, is the music that is used, created or performed by Indigenous peoples of North America, including Native Americans in the United States and Aboriginal peoples in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Mexico, and other North American countries—especially traditional tribal music, such as Pueblo music and Inuit music. In addition to the traditional music of the Native American groups, there now exist pan-Indianism and intertribal genres as well as distinct Native American subgenres of popular music including: rock, blues, hip hop, classical, film music, and reggae, as well as unique popular styles like chicken scratch and New Mexico music.
Indigenous music of Canada encompasses a wide variety of musical genres created by Aboriginal Canadians. Before European settlers came to what is now Canada, the region was occupied by many First Nations, including the West Coast Salish and Haida, the centrally located Iroquois, Blackfoot and Huron, the Dene to the North, and the Innu and Mi'kmaq in the East and the Cree in the North. Each of the indigenous communities had their own unique musical traditions. Chanting – singing is widely popular and most use a variety of musical instruments.
A drum circle is an informal gathering of percussionists and dancers who meet in public for the purpose of playing drums and dancing. Often seen at parks and beaches. Percussionists usually gather in a circle and dancers are often seen in the centre of the circle. The participants make up the music as they go along, using their listening and playing skills to make musical connections and express themselves in any and all ways that feel right. Drum circles often attract both regulars and spontaneous participation and they can range in size from a handful of players to circles with thousands of participants. Defining values of a drum circle include equality, autonomy, inclusivity and freedom of expression.
Raymond Carlos Nakai is a Native American flutist of Navajo and Ute heritage. Nakai played brass instruments in high school and college, and auditioned for the Armed Forces School of Music after a two-year period in the United States Navy. He began playing a traditional Native American cedar flute after an accident left him unable to play the trumpet. Largely self-taught, he released his first album Changes in 1983, and afterward signed a contract with Canyon Records, who produced more than thirty of his albums in subsequent years. His music prominently features original compositions for the flute inspired by traditional Native American melodies. Nakai has collaborated with musicians William Eaton, Peter Kater, Philip Glass, Nawang Khechog, Paul Horn, and Keola Beamer. He has received 11 Grammy Award nominations for his albums.
The Native American flute is a musical instrument and flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes, and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound. The player breathes into one end of the flute without the need for an embouchure. A block on the outside of the instrument directs the player's breath from the first chamber—called the slow air chamber—into the second chamber—called the sound chamber. The design of a sound hole at the proximal end of the sound chamber causes air from the player's breath to vibrate. This vibration causes a steady resonance of air pressure in the sound chamber that creates sound.
Bill Miller is a Native American singer/songwriter and artist of Mohican heritage. He is a guitarist, player of the Native American flute and painter.
Kevin Edward Locke was of Lakota descent of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Anishinaabe of White Earth. He was a preeminent player of the Native American flute, a traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist and educator. He was best-known for his hoop dance, The Hoop of Life.
Sonny Nevaquaya was a Comanche flute player and maker from Oklahoma. He began his professional career in 1993 when he recorded an album entitled Spirit of the Flute. His second album, Viva Kokopelli was released in 1996. He has also released an album in honor of his father, Doc Tate Nevaquaya - Legend and Legacy. Nevaquaya lived in Florida until his death on February 27, 2019.
Robert Mirabal is a Pueblo musician and Native American flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico.
Dean Evenson is a new-age musician, composer, producer and videographer. His hometown is Staten Island, New York. He has a master's degree in Molecular Biology. He worked in Manhattan as a recording engineer for Regent Sound with many Atlantic recording artists including Eric Clapton, Mose Allison, Roberta Flack. Dean plays several instruments including the Western concert flute, Native American flute, synthesizer, and keyboards. In the New Age genre, his music is generally sounds of nature combined with flute melodies and other instruments for ambient and meditative purposes. His music is often used for massage, meditation, yoga and relaxation.
Peter Kater is a German-born American pianist, composer and Grammy Award winner.
Jingle dress is a First Nations and Native American women's pow wow regalia and dance. North Central College associate professor Matthew Krystal notes, in his book, Indigenous Dance and Dancing Indian: Contested Representation in the Global Era, that "Whereas men's styles offer Grass Dance as a healing themed dance, women may select Jingle Dress Dance." The regalia worn for the dance is a jingle dress, which includes ornamentation with multiple rows of metal, such as cones, that create a jingling sound as the dancer moves.
Native American Hoop Dance is one of the individual dances, and it is performed as a show dance in many tribes. It features a solo dancer dancing with a dozen or more hoops and using them to form a variety of both static and dynamic shapes. Most of the hoop dances in tribes across North America belong to modern hoop dance, which was invented in 1930.
Yamurikuma is a female spirit who represents the ancestral women of the indigenous Wauja people. The Wauja people are located at South America, in the Upper Xingu River, Brazil. Wauja people have celebrated Yamurikuma in rituals, ceremonies, and traditions for centuries. Shamans in Xingu villages call women specifically to perform sing and song rituals for the female spirit Yamurikuma and the deceased or terminally ill Xingu people. It is one of the only exceptions made for the women in these communities to lead a ritual. Yamurikuma is also celebrated in a festival named after the spirit herself. This festival is organized by the Xingu Tribes, and throughout this specific festival, the Xingu women take on the male roles of the tribe for a week.
Frederick A. Fox was an American composer and former music educator specializing in contemporary classical music.
Music for People (MfP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to music-making and music improvisation as a means of self-expression. Their primary activities include organizing workshops for improvisational music, hosting a four-year Musicianship and Leadership Program that provides training in music facilitation, and publishing various resources related to improvisational music.
Art of the American Southwest is the visual arts of the Southwestern United States. This region encompasses Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. These arts include architecture, ceramics, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and other media, ranging from the ancient past to the contemporary arts of the present day.
Soundings of the Planet is an American, artist-owned, independent media company based in Bellingham, Washington that produces relaxation and world music by New Age artists and international musicians as well as documentaries on various environmental and human rights issues.
This is a discography of Native American flute player R. Carlos Nakai.
