Artists R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman Dreamvisions 7 Radio Network

Artists: R. Carlos Nakai & Will Clipman

Nakai Bio: Of Navajo-Ute heritage, R. Carlos Nakai is the world’s premier performer of the Native American flute. He began his musical studies on the trumpet, but a car accident ruined his embouchure. Years later his musical interests took a turn when he was given a traditional cedar flute as a gift and challenged to maser it. As an artist, he is an adventurer and risk taker, always giving his musical imagination free rein. Nakai is also an iconoclastic traditionalist who views his cultural heritage not only as a source and inspiration, but also a dynamic continuum of natural change, growth, and adaptation subject to the artist’s expressive needs. Nakai’s first album, Changes, was released by Canyon Records in 1983, and since then he has released over thirty-six albums with Canyon plus additional albums and guest appearances on other labels. In addition to his educational workshops and residencies, Nakai has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, and worked with GRAMMY winning flutist Paul Horn, guitarist/luthier William Eaton, composer James DeMars, two-time GRAMMY winning producer Billy Williams, among others. The famed American choreographer Martha Graham used Nakai’s second album, Cycles, in her last work, Night Chant. Nakai contributed music to the major motion pictures New World (New Line) and Geronimo (Columbia).

Clipman Bio: Will Clipman began playing his father’s drums and his mother’s piano at the age of three. He played his first professional gig at fourteen, and has since then has mastered a pan-global palette of over one hundred percussion instruments in addition to the traditional drumset. Will is a six-time GRAMMY® Nominee, a three-time Native American Music Award Winner, a Canadian Aboriginal Music Award Winner, a New Age Reporter Music Award Winner, and a two-time TAMMIE Award Winner; and has been inducted into the Tucson Musicians Museum for his contributions to the musical community in his hometown. Will has recorded over sixty albums, including over thirty for Canyon Records, where he is regarded as the house percussionist. In addition to his solo work, Will performs with R. Carlos Nakai, William Eaton, Solvei & ZumaSOL, Amber Norgaard, Gabriel Ayala and Coyote Jump among many other internationally-acclaimed artists. Will’s solo CD Pathfinder earned a GRAMMY® Nomination for Best New Age Album. His Planet of Percussion® performance and workshop provides a hands-on tour of world music rhythm and polyrhythm.

CD: Awakening the Fire Grammy-nominees R. Carlos Nakai and Will Clipman delve into a primal sonic odyssey, channeling a sound that grounds each of us in the center of our being, a place where all cultures merge into the river of human existence. The ancient call of Native American cedar flute and the vibration of African, Native American and Asian rhythms connect to our innermost essence and finely tune the awakening energies inside each of us nourishing inner balance and harmony.