LOS ANGELES – Native flutist Robert Mirabal, aka Johnny Whitehorse, won a GRAMMY under the Best Native American Music Album category for ”Totemic Flute Chants.” The award was bestowed Feb. 10, but the Taos, N.M., native was unable to attend the event due to other commitments.
Larry Mitchell, co-producer of the album released under the Silver Wave Records label, also received the coveted statue.
It was the second GRAMMY win within 3 years for Mirabal, and the news of the win came as a bit of a shock.
”I really felt like I wasn’t going to win,” he said. ”It’s more of a world album.”
Silver Wave Records President James Marienthal disputed Mirabal’s claim that the album fits better under the world music genre. ”I think the Johnny Whitehorse album is exciting and fits well in the Native American category,” he said. ”The album was designed to showcase his different style; he’s quite prolific that way.”
Mirabal, 40, describes ”Totemic Flute Chants” as a combination of aboriginal and gypsy-style music. It captures the hypnotizing sounds of keyboards and tribal drums, and the exotic beat of world music instruments; but the Native flute gently guides the music, and perhaps, takes the listener on an ethereal and spiritually uplifting journey through the plateaus and plains of the Southwest.
Each of the 12 songs honor the animal spirit via the Cougar, Coyote, Thunderbird, Emergence, Earth Mother, Serpent, Buffalo, Whale, Elk, Eagle, Bear and Wolf.
And it is no wonder that the album stirs the imagination. The cover features the back of a lone warrior, with long jet-black hair, dressed in traditional clothing. He sits atop his painted horse and gazes over the wide-open prairie as if searching for something or someone in the distance.
It was an image that Mirabal said he was aiming for – romantic imagery so often associated with Native people. He said that he created Whitehorse after being asked by record executives to make a more traditional Native flute album, which compared to his more contemporary work.
So, with a little bit of attitude, he pushed the envelope and created the new persona. ”For me, it was like Conan the Barbarian,” he quipped. ”I said [if] this is exactly what you want, then this is exactly what you’ll get.”
The apparent attitude problem turned into a successful project. One thing that Mirabal does not lack is a passion for life and a genuinely positive attitude. This passion reflects in his music and creative endeavors.
On top of being an accomplished flutist, he is a budding author, screenwriter, flute maker, designer, painter, poet and an award-winning songwriter. ”I am always pushing it,” he said. ”There is no destination, it’s always a journey.”
He recently wrapped up, ”Running Alone in Photographs,” which he aims to publish within the next few months. ”The final sentence has been placed,” he said. ”I am really loving the craft of writing.”
His first book, ”Skeleton of a Bridge,” was published in 1994 and has a pending re-release date.
”Totemic Flute Chants” is the second album created under the Whitehorse persona. His first self-titled album was a finalist in the Indie Acoustic Project’s Best CDs of 2006 and nominated for New Age Reporter’s Best Native American Album.
To add to his recent list of accolades, last year he won Best International Album for ”In the Blood” at the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards. He was also voted Best Male Artist of 2007 at the Native American Music Awards, and his ”Pueblo Christmas” release was nominated for Record of the Year.
Mirabal was born and raised in the Taos Pueblo village in N.M. When not touring, he resides on his ancestral lands with his wife Dawn and their three daughters.
He started his recording career at the young age of 18, thanks to a loan he received from his grandmother. He purchased his first flute and recorded his songs. Soon after that purchase, his opportunities blossomed when he befriended Native flutist Carlos Nakai, who was also a GRAMMY nominee under the same category. Mirabal said that Nakai noticed a scar on his hand from making flutes, and told him that he bore the same scar as well. The two became instant friends.
At the time he started performing, there were few Native flute players which opened up the door for Mirabal and created more public interest in the genre as his career evolved. Today, there are countless Native flutists.
The Recording Academy initiated the Best Native American Music Album category for the GRAMMY Awards in 2000, and the first winner was awarded a statue the following year.
