R. Carlos Nakai Music

Artist Overview
Southwestern flautist R. Carlos Nakai has left his unique mark on the Native American music canon. He is not an archivist of traditional songs, but rather a synthesist of new sounds, fusing the spirit of his Navajo ancestors with modern sensibilities. He composes soaring melodies for solo wooden flute (of his own design) evoking the terrible beauty of the desert landscape, adding jazzy, ambient, and New Age elements. He's been recording since the early 1980s, and his solo outings and his collaborations with pianist/composer Peter Kater, flautist Paul Horn, and others have met great critical and popular success.