Years ago, a flutemaker gave Jay Red Eagle a cedar flute. “I couldn’t put it down,” Red Eagle said. “I wanted to play 24 hours a day. I played all the time and never considered it practicing because it was something I loved to do. I had played the violin and guitar in school for a while, but I soon forgot about those instruments. I finally had something the other kids didn’t have. Something for an Indian kid, and to me, it was like finding a dying language that very few people had the privilege of keeping alive.”

Red Eagle was voted Oklahoma’s Native American Flutist of The Year two years in a row. He donates 10 percent of all his earnings from his music to the Native American Rights Fund and the American Indian College Fund.

“That’s my way of giving back to the community, or what some people might call tithing,” he said. “People are always telling me I’ve been blessed with a gift or my music has been a blessing to them. But for me, the real blessing is being able to bless others with more than just my music. And I don’t give expecting something in return. I do it because my people are where my heart is, and they’ve always been a blessing to me.

“I also believe education is the key to not only ours, but to our youths’ future. Today’s students will be tomorrow’s tribal leaders, attorneys, doctors, filmmakers, etc. As members of sovereign nations they need to know that sovereignty is under attack, not only by the states, but by several anti-Indian organizations who are taking their cases all the way to the Supreme Court.

“That’s why I chose to support NARF and the American Indian College Fund, and I challenge every other Native American musician and professional to do the same.”

Red Eagle is a member of the Cherokee Nation and resides in eastern Oklahoma. He is currently working on a project called “Words Of Wisdom” that will document tribal elders on video. His latest CD, “Prayer For My People” will be released in early May.

For more information on his music visit: www.myspace.com/redeaglejay or www.cdbaby.com/jayredeagle.