Spring Break in Jackson Hole is a welcome time of the year as we are emerging from the depths of Old Man Winter here in Western Wyoming. Each Spring our kids get 2 full weeks for Spring Break which is plenty of time to take a road trip. This year a road trip south was needed more than other. Our epic snowfall was one for the record book and it was still falling upon our departure.
“Amazing but that is what God does with music. Most believers want to have their emotions manipulated with music but they don’t realize that to God, music is communication. He communicates to us through the music of creation, twinkling stars, rushing water, winds that whisper and winds that roars through the trees, crashing waves and babies cries. The native flute is so special because when we give it our breath, it give us it’s song and each one has a song all its own. Through it we can release the deep sounds of our being.”
Mary Blakeley
This year our road trip was to take us first to Scottsdale Arizona to visit family and then on to San Diego. One of the highlights planned was to visit a Scottsdale venue where Tony Duncan was to play.
For those who may not know Tony Duncan is one of our true Native American Music treasures and he is an Award Winning Native American Flute Artist and World Champion Hoop Dancer (5 times World Champion). Tony has been blessed to play with the likes of Carlos Nakai, Joanne Shenandoah, Nelly Furtado and other great music artists. He was awarded Artist of the Year at the Native American Music Awards for 2013-2014 and he has played to huge audiences globally. Tony has played the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Smithsonian Museum, The Billboard Music Awards, The Tonight Show, and The White House.
The Native American Flute is one of the most beautiful instruments handed down from Mother Earth and when in the hands of Tony, well lets just say a Spirit comes through and straight to your heart.
Recently I had the opportunity to deliver a flute I made to Tony. Although this flute took a bit longer than I had wanted I finally was able to have it delivered before our trip to Arizona. The flute pictured above is the actual flute crafted for Tony and above (picture) is a link of a video sent to me by Tony of him playing it in Arizona shortly thereafter.
We arrived in Scottsdale late Friday evening after driving 900 miles. Then Saturday morning we made our way down to the Scottsdale Civic Center just in time to hear Tony play and to our great surprise he was playing his new Raven Themed flute. This man is blessed for sure. We met his family again and chatted a bit about things and after the show we parted ways and our family went on to eat lunch in town. But I must tell you how humbled I was to hear the voice of this flute after spending so many hours crafting it. Tony could not have been more gracious as was his wife Violet. And his children are so full of life and clearly one big happy family.
For those who would like to seek Tony’s music out he is currently signed to Canyon Records, the largest Native American music label and his music is available through iTunes and other music vendors. Follow Tony Duncan on FaceBook. I look forward to the next opportunity to craft another flute for Tony… I hope soon…
The Eagle Theme was something I had not really done previously and when Jim shared with me other eagle fetish designs he had seen and liked I knew I would need to find a fetish that fits within my whimsical fetish designs and its coming marriage to this flute. I did not want this to be in any way a representation of someone elses work.
Because I live along the Snake River there are many Bald Eagle nests around my home and while on my afternoon walks I would watch the males fishing from above. This fetish is my representation of watching these magnificent birds dive for fish along the river and this is where the idea for this particular bird came from.
One really cool feature is the way the feathers (replicas) are hung from the flute body. In stead of using trade cloth and sinew to wrap the upper portion of the leather straps I hand crafted a stone bead crafted from a piece of Catlinite (Sacred Pipestone) and it acts kind of like a bolo tie which makes it easy to adjust and even remove the feathers if desired. Another time-consuming value add but well worth the effort as it really makes or a clean presentation.
Leather Studios
I wanted to share this with all of you and hope to get some feedback. I have been working on a new Native American Styled flute that will more than likely find a new home in a Gallery located in Alpine Wyoming. The owner wanted a themed flute with the theme being the Raven so I decided to go ahead and see what I would come up with.