Sonny Nevaquaya
Encyclopedia
Sonny Nevaquaya is a Comanche
Native American 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 currently lives in Florida
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Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
Native American flute
Native American flute
The Native American flute has achieved some measure of fame for its distinctive sound, used in a variety of New Age and world music recordings. The instrument was originally very personal; its music was played without accompaniment in courtship, healing, meditation, and spiritual rituals. Now it...
player and maker from Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
. 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 currently lives in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
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Films
- Songkeepers (1999, 48 min.). Directed by Bob Hercules and Bob Jackson. Produced by Dan King. Lake Forest, Illinois: America's Flute Productions. Five distinguished traditional flute artists - Tom Mauchahty-WareTom Mauchahty-WareTom Mauchahty-Ware is a Kiowa-Comanche musician. He is known for his work playing the Native American flute, and has been a successful Indian dancer, and has sung in a popular blues band. He is also a skilled traditional artist: painting, sculpting, making flutes, bead working, and feather working...
, Sonny Nevaquaya, R. Carlos NakaiR. Carlos NakaiRaymond Carlos “R.” Nakai is a Native American flautist of Navajo/Ute heritage.-Biography:Born Ray Carlos Nakai, in Flagstaff, Arizona, he released his first album, Changes, in 1983...
, Hawk LittlejohnHawk LittlejohnHawk Littlejohn was perhaps the greatest contemporary Native American flute maker. At the time of his death, he was living in Old Fort, North Carolina, where he made his flutes and kept alive his native Cherokee traditions...
, Kevin Locke – talk about their instrument and their songs and the role of the flute and its music in their tribes.