Original compositions and one traditional Cherokee song
Utugi
ᎤᏚᎩ
(Hope)
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2025
New Life
Ulenidohv Itse
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2024
Tears for the Children
Digasawosdi Nasginai Diniyoli
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2023
Out of the Miry Clay
Nidvlenvda Gadaquali
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2023
Prayers in the Darkness
Vdadolisdodi Hawinaditlv Ulasigvi
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2023
Tsanelanvhi
You Are Creator
Acapella vocal
Written and recorded 2023
Beautiful Creator
Unelanvhi Uwoduhi
Vocals, deerskin hand drum, and seed shaker
Written and recorded 2023
Children Stolen
Diniyoli Ganosgida
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Diniyoli Ganosgida
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Over the past year, we've seen the news stories of the discoveries of the remains of over a thousand children in unmarked graveyards at former Indigenous boarding schools in Canada and the US. Over 700 remains were found at one school in Canada, and a school in Nebraska documented over 100 deaths. The US Department of Interior has launched its own investigation, and there will likely be far more revealed.
Beginning in the 19th century, Indigenous children were often forcibly removed from their families and tribes, and placed in government-sponsored schools primarily managed by the Catholic Church. Physical, sexual, and mental abuse were rampant in these schools. Conditions were frequently crowded and deplorable, leading to outbreaks of disease. Children died from abuse, neglect, disease, and suicide, all under the guise of showing them God's love.
The first step in healing is acknowledgment, to "weep with those who weep."
The first step in healing is acknowledgment, to "weep with those who weep."
Faithful Creator
Unelanvhi Uwohiyu
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Unelanvhi Uwohiyu
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Though some of my native flute pieces are about the Trail of Tears and other heartbreaking aspects of Indigenous history, there is also a time to rejoice. This short piece has a distinctly different sound as the melody is in a major pentatonic scale rather than the minor pentatonic scale most often played on this instrument.
Longing
Vgatenohv
ᎥᎦᏖᏃᎲ
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Golgotha
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2022
Vanishing Mist
Ugvhadv Galosgv
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2021
Ugvhadv Galosgv
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2021
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime.
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
– Blackfeet
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset."
– Blackfeet
"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
- James 4:14
- James 4:14
Cherokee Hymn Sung on the Trail of Tears
(‘One Drop of Blood’)
Acapella Vocal
Recorded 2021
(‘One Drop of Blood’)
Acapella Vocal
Recorded 2021
This song was composed by one or more Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. Some Cherokees who couldn't keep up - including young children, pregnant women who had been raped by soldiers, and the elderly - were bayoneted and left to die. Others bled from frostbite or injuries. Many died from exhaustion, disease, heat stroke, or hypothermia. Yet the sorrow in the melody is overcome by the faith expressed in the lyrics.
Sorrow
Uyoayelvnv
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2021
Uyoayelvnv
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2021
Winter Trail
Usdiganvnv Gola
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2020
This is the second piece I've written about the Trail of Tears, where thousands of Cherokee people died on a forced march from their homelands in the 19th century. This short piece focuses on the winter parts of the journey, which were especially horrific. It can also evoke the personal journeys of suffering we endure.
The simple video footage is not narrative, just meant to bring visual context to the music. Thanks to my two youngest (16 and 8) for putting on moccasins and portraying the steps of those who walked the thousand-mile route weak and broken.
I hope and pray that we will never forget the tragic mistreatment of indigenous tribes on this continent. We must humble ourselves so that arrogance, disrespect and genocide of other human beings – any race, color, political affiliation, economic status, religion, or stage of life – never become acceptable in our eyes.
I hope and pray that we will never forget the tragic mistreatment of indigenous tribes on this continent. We must humble ourselves so that arrogance, disrespect and genocide of other human beings – any race, color, political affiliation, economic status, religion, or stage of life – never become acceptable in our eyes.
Trail of Tears
Nvnadaulatsvyi
Native Flute
Written and recorded 2019
This short native flute piece poured out of my spirit to mourn and honor those who suffered on the Trail of Tears. In 1838-1839, 4,000 Cherokee women, men, and children died on a forced march from their homelands in the Appalachian Mountains to Oklahoma Territory. Some of those who walked this trail were my distant ancestors.
For the video, I wove together short excerpts from the Trail of Tears documentary created by the National Park Service and Cherokee Nation. It ends in a hopeful sunrise in Oklahoma Territory, where the trail ended and where Cherokee Nation thrives today.
For the video, I wove together short excerpts from the Trail of Tears documentary created by the National Park Service and Cherokee Nation. It ends in a hopeful sunrise in Oklahoma Territory, where the trail ended and where Cherokee Nation thrives today.
