Heart of the Wind – Robert Tree Cody & Will Clipman
(Canyon Records)

This recording brings together the most primal of instruments, the drum and flute, in a new collection of compositions by two shining lights of the Native American music world.

Of Dakota-Maricopa heritage, Robert Tree Cody has appeared worldwide not only as a flautist, singer and dancer but also as a counsellor and educator teaching students at all levels about the folklore, crafts, music and traditional ways of the Native American peoples. He is well known on the pow-wow circuit as Tree Cody Red Cedar Whistle.

Traditional Native American music rarely exhibits the instrumental virtuosity attained in other genres, but the work of Will Clipman provides an exception and here his fine and complex drumming does far more than simply underpin Cody’s simple flute melodies. Clipman’s career has spanned many genres including jazz, rock, blues, reggae and world music, as well as studying with master African drummers, and this rich eclecticism has clearly expanded on and enhanced the traditional Native American drum technique.

As demonstrated by many of the CDs featured this issue, this music is not ‘locked in the past’ but is developing and evolving to reflect the changes within the Native American culture, as well as the world at large.

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