Feather and Stone Gala
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Entertainment: Robert Mirabal
Living with his family at the foot of sacred Taos Mountain, Robert Mirabal maintains a traditional life, keeping the centuries-old customs of the Taos Pueblo people.
Our Native religion is based on Nature. It’s a 24/7, 365-day spiritual concept. If you live a traditional life you see things differently—spiritually and musically.
Described as a Native American “Renaissance man”—master flute player, musician, composer, painter, craftsman, poet, actor, screenwriter, horseman, and farmer—Mirabal has traveled extensively and played his music all over the world.
My music is informed by the ceremonial music that I’ve heard all my life. What I create comes out of my body and soul in a desire to take care of the spirits of the earth.
His first flute came when he was 18, with money he borrowed from his grandmother, and shortly afterward he had the opportunity to meet Native American flute player R. Carlos Nakai.
When we met he looked at my hands and laughed. He said, I have that same scar. It’s the scar of the flute maker.
In the years since, Mirabal has continued the evolution of his flute making and has also become a concert performer and recording artist. His nine albums of traditional music, rock ’n’ roll, and spoken word present a contemporary view of American Indian life that is unequaled. A leading proponent of world music, Mirabal has merged his Indigenous American sound with the sounds of Africa, Asia, and Australia, tapping into a planetary pulse with a style that defies categorization.
My travels have provided me with experiences that I could have never imagined, exposing me to a global sound and a global voice.
As a composer and a musician, Mirabal has won many honors, including two-time Native American Artist of the Year, three-time Songwriter of the Year, and 2006 (Sacred Ground) and 2008 (Johnny Whitehorse Totemic Flute Chants ) Best Native American Album of the Year Grammy Awards, and Male Artist of the Year at the 2007 Native American Music Awards. His 2002 breakthrough PBS musical production, Music From a Painted Cave, remains a benchmark Native American theatrical production.
Mirabal’s first novel, Running Alone in Photographs, will be published in November 2008. He will also be featured this October with the New York–based classical string quartet ETHEL at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival.