Robert Mirabal (born October 6, 1966) is a

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

musician and

Native American flute The Native American flute is a musical instrument and flute that is held in front of the player, has open finger holes, and has two chambers: one for collecting the breath of the player and a second chamber which creates sound. The player breat ...

player and maker from

Taos Pueblo Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos language, Taos-speaking (Tiwa languages, Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan peoples, Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. T ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

. His flutes are world-renowned and have been displayed at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian–New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, is a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in Manhattan, New York City. The museum is part of the Sm ...

. An award-winning musician and leading proponent of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

, Mirabal performs worldwide, sharing flute songs, tribal rock, dance, and storytelling. Mirabal was twice named the

Native American Music Awards The Native American Music Awards (also known as the NAMAs or "Nammys") are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profi ...

' Artist of the Year, and received the Songwriter of the Year award three times. He was featured in

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winning album, '' Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth'' in 2006 for Best Native American Music Album Mirabal also published a book of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

poetry and prose in 1994 entitled ''Skeletons of a Bridge'' and is currently writing a second book, ''Running Alone in Photographs''. Aside from his artistic talents, Mirabal is a father and a farmer, living in Taos Pueblo and participating in the traditional ways and rituals of his people.

Musical career

Raised traditionally by his mother and grandparents on the pueblo, and born in 1966, Mirabal spoke

Tiwa Tiwa and Tigua may refer to: * Tiwa Puebloans, an ethnic group of New Mexico, US * Tiwa (Lalung), an ethnic group of north-eastern India * Tiwa language (India), a Sino-Tibetan language of India * Tiwa languages, a group of Tanoan languages of the ...

at home and began making flutes at the age of 19. In school, he had learned how to play clarinet, saxophone, piano, and drums, but found his true musical voice in the traditional

. He met the renowned

player R. Carlos Nakai as a young man and was greatly inspired by him. He moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, playing in a multicultural band made up of a

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

ese guitarist, a

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an drummer and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

an keyboardist. There, Mirabal immersed himself in the sound of

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and R&B, which would inform his later trademark music. He recorded an independent debut album in 1988, and went on to land a contract with Warner Western and later, Silver Wave Records. His first projects were generally focused on traditional music consisting of

and percussion. One of his early albums, entitled ''

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

'' was originally composed for two Japanese

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

rs Eiko and Koma, who choreographed a dance production inspired by their impressions of the land around Taos.

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae * Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona ...

and clay flutes, percussion, rattles, and traditional vocals were used throughout the album. Reynaldo Lujan, a

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

who would go on to collaborate with Mirabal for over a decade, played on the album along with

Mark Andes Mark Andes (born February 19, 1948) is an American musician, known for his work as a bassist with Canned Heat, Spirit, Jo Jo Gunne, Firefall, Heart, and Mirabal. Early life Andes was born in Philadelphia, but grew up in Los Angeles, one o ...

. Each song told a different story about the land around Taos Mountain. The acclaimed performance toured Japan, Europe and the U.S. and in 1992, Mirabal was given New York's Dance and Performance

Bessie Award The New York Dance and Performance Awards, also known as the Bessie Awards, are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, ...

for the score. In 1996, Mirabal collaborated with

-winning Native American singer-songwriter Bill Miller on an album ''Native Suite-Chants: Dances and the Remembered Earth''. The project was both experimental and traditional, featuring flute and percussion as well as

Mohican The Mohicans ( or ) are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe that historically spoke an Algonquian language. As part of the Eastern Algonquian family of tribes, they are related to the neighboring Lenape, whose indigenous territory was ...

pow-wow singing. All these disparate interests and experiences led to the band Mirabal in 1995.

Bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

, from the '60s band Spirit and '80s rock group

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

, joined Robert along with Reynaldo Lujan. In 1997, they released the groundbreaking album ''Mirabal'' that fused rock, funk, and other contemporary forms of music with traditional music, drawing on the legacy of other Native American pop/rock musicians (such as

Buffy Sainte-Marie Buffy Sainte-Marie (born Beverley Jean Santamaria; February 20, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and social activist. Sainte-Marie's singing and writing repertoire includes subjects of love, war, religion, and mysticism, and h ...

) but creating a unique sound that would set Mirabal apart and gain further mainstream attention. Mirabal came to greater national prominence during his performance in

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

' 1998 musical dance production, ''Spirit: A Journey in Dance, Drum, and Song'', for which he composed the soundtrack with traditional flute and percussion. Due to the popularity of the program, the network went on to produce a music/dance program centered entirely on Mirabal and his traditional/rock fusion music in 2002, entitled ''Music from a Painted Cave''. The program and its corresponding CD release were enthusiastically received by mainstream audiences and became a benchmark

album. He also collaborated with

John Tesh John Frank Tesh Jr. (born July 9, 1952) is an American musician and radio and television presenter. He wrote the '' NBA on NBC'' basketball theme " Roundball Rock", and hosts the ''Intelligence for Your Life'' radio show. In addition, since 20 ...

for the acclaimed PBS ''One World'' TV special for the millennium in 2000, which showcased music from around the world. Mirabal's ''In the Blood'' CD (2007) on Star Road Records (www.starroadrecords.com) was featured in

New Mexico Magazine ''New Mexico Magazine'' was launched in 1923, and is the first state magazine founded in the United States. It is published monthly in print, online, and via an iOS app. Additionally, the magazine also maintains a store, selling New Mexico-relat ...

for their October 2007 issue. The reviewer wrote that "it is one of his finest to date."Emily Drabinski, ''Music: Robert Mirabal: In the Blood: Genre: Rock, Native American'',

, October 2007, p. 31. See online a
NM Magazine online
His native state's tourism magazine lauded the CD's "lively danceable rhythms (that) should appeal to mainstream radio.... Mirabal (is) one of the trailblazers of tribal rock.... Mirabal was featured in a 2008 ''

'' story about Native American flute players, as well as another, 2014 story about the arts in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

.Rob Dewalt, "Rattle and Drum: A museum exhibition cracks open the doors of perception to Native American music in the Southwest; Taos Pueblo flutist Robert Mirabal furnishes a key", ''New Mexico Magazine'', February 2014. In 2011 Mirabal joined the avant-garde string quartet ETHEL for a collaborative tour titled ''Music of the Sun''. This is his second collaboration with the group, with whom he performed at BAM's

Next Wave Festival Next Wave is a biennial festival based in Melbourne, which promotes and showcases the work of young and emerging artists. Next Wave encourages interdisciplinary practice and fosters the creation and presentation of works by emerging artists wor ...

in 2008.

Discography

* ''Nomad'' (1994) with Nomad and Mor Thiam * ''Song Carrier'' (1995) * ''

'' (1995) * ''Warrior Magician'' (1996) * ''Native Suite'' (1996, with Bill Miller) * ''Mirabal'' (1997) * ''Native American Lullabies: Under The Green Corn Moon'' (1998) * ''Taos Tales'' (1999) * ''Music from a Painted Cave'' (2001) * ''Indians, Indians'' (2003) * '' Sacred Ground: A Tribute to Mother Earth'' (2005, compilation) * ''Johnny Whitehorse'' (2005) * ''Pueblo Christmas'' (2007, with Patrick Mirabal) * ''In the Blood '' (2007) * ''Johnny Whitehorse: Totemic Flute Chants'' (2007) * ''Johnny Whitehorse: Riders of the Healing Road'' (2007) * ''The River'' (2016, with Ethel)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mirabal, Robert 1966 births Living people Warner Records artists Native American flautists New Mexico music artists Musicians from New Mexico People from Taos County, New Mexico Pueblo people Tiwa Pueblo people Taos Pueblo 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century Native American people 21st-century Native American people 20th-century flautists 21st-century flautists