Price: £13.98 inc. VAT (£11.90 ex. VAT)
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Release Date: 26-10-98
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 13033-2
Barcode: 13711303322
Musical Style: Native American
Desert Dance is R. Carlos Nakai's musical interpretation of his experiences in the sacred place of his ancestors, Colorado's San Luis Valley. Like his critically acclaimed 1988 release, Sundance Season , the Navajo-Ute musician's latest album was recorded in the Lindisfarne chapel, a uniquely resonant structure situated within this dramatic expanse of holy ground. Many tribes, from the early pueblo dwellers to the Kiowa, Arapaho and Comanche, have inhabited this alpine valley over time. Near Alamosa, Colorado, where the Great Sand Dunes lie, is the site of the Navajo's eastern sacred mountain, Blanca Peak and the center of the Ute world. Nakai weaves his improvisations on the native American wooden flute, nose flute, drums, rattle and voice into poetic meditations on the land and its history. During Ancient Voices, he delicately plays a Southern Plains war dance drum with finger taps and brushes to reveal a hidden palette of sound, much like the whisper of spirits within the valley. The joyful spectacle of desert birds frolicking upon waves of transparent air currents is depicted on Turquoise Swallows Dance, while the wind's daily moods are choreographed in temperate summer breezes, dust devils and cloud formations on Wind Dance. Other selections deftly combine the plaintive, yet, potent sounds of Nakai's heritage to explore the mystery and unique beauty of this sacred territory.
| 1 | Ancient Ground | 03:52 |
| 2 | Pollen Pathway | 02:57 |
| 3 | Ancient Voices | 05:08 |
| 4 | Spirit Valley | 03:24 |
| 5 | Sand Tapestry | 02:29 |
| 6 | Turquoise Swallows Dance | 02:18 |
| 7 | Abalone Wind | 01:56 |
| 8 | Wind Dance | 02:33 |
| 9 | Sacred Earth Call | 03:40 |
| 10 | Spiral Journey | 05:47 |
| 11 | Land of Emergence | 02:12 |
| 12 | Mountain Blue Bird Calling | 03:01 |
| 13 | Mountain Call | 03:15 |
| 14 | Yellow Eagle-Feather Dance | 02:36 |
| 15 | Journey of Yellow Wind | 03:10 |
| 16 | Medicine Keeper | 03:03 |
| 17 | Desert Dance | 07:01 |
R. Carlos Nakai has explored and developed the relationship between established and new musical ideas for the Native American wooden flute. Classically trained on the trumpet, Nakai has nevertheless always been involved in the music and culture of his Navajo people. He has become accomplished on the siyotanka, the Lakota name for the wooden flute. Nakai has studied and lived with many different Native American tribes, adapting their musical traditions to his own style. He represented the Native Americans at the Magic Flute Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has performed at galleries, schools, museums and festivals. A visual artist and teacher, Nakai works with the Arizona Commission on the Arts.
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