Sacred Fire
Kelvin Mockingbird's solo release, Sacred Fire, revisits his roots and the pure joy of learning to play his first flute, given to him by his Uncle Irvin. The album offers eight beautifully simple Navajo flute solos accented only by subtle natural sound effects.Mockingbird, of the Dine'/Navajo tribe, describes his music as "Buddha raised on fried bread," which fits the meditative, soulful moods of Sacred Fire well. His emotive soft woodwind notes and breathy trills easily evoke the image of 'The Dance of Butterfly, Badger Girl' gliding up and down between the flutter of wings, the long legatos of "Awakening of the Beauty Within" float above the sounds of birds in a morning meadow, and it's almost possible to picture the round, woody flute tones resonating between an elk's spreading rack in 'A Call to Love.'Most of the 72-minute CD's tracks are approximately 10 minutes long, each a peaceful short meditation on the purity of Native American flute. Play this quietly uplifting album in the morning to create a centered, mindful feeling for your early customers. Mockingbird's five previous Canyon Record releases, in the multi-instrumental trio Burning Sky under the name Kelvin Bizahaloni, include the 2003 Grammy-nominated Spirits in the Wind with Doors drummer John Densmore. --By Randy Alberts - New Age Retailer / Expo 2007 IssueListening to the humble, meditative sound of Kelvin Mockingbird's solo flute playing you can't help but be caught up in its transfixing beauty. Performed here solo, with only the light sounds of nature in the background, the music is haunting in its simplicity and surprising in the amount of tonal richness it possesses. You can almost imagine stumbling upon the Dine-based artist playing his flute in a secluded forest clearing, not for performance, but to find a sense of harmony with the ambience around him. SACRED FIRE would make a wonderful accompaniment for meditation or deep contemplation - its improvised melodies are incredibly peaceful and have a perfect balance of earthiness, soul and ethereal resplendence. --By Dan Cowan - Music Design / InReview May-June 2007