Robert Mirabal, left, performs his own brand of contemporary Native American music. Mirabal recently performed music from his new album, In the Blood, at the Rio Grande Theater in Las Cruces, N.M. Courtesy Photo.
In the blood – Native American flute player captivates senses
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Grammy Award Winner Robert Mirabal, a Native American recording artist, recently came to the borderland area, performing his new album In the Blood at the Rio Grande Theater in Las Cruces, N.M.
Mirabal, a Taos, N.M., native, is a contemporary Native American musician. Although he has put a lot of energy into his music and flute making, he is also an accomplished writer, painter and farmer.
“When you grow up in a place such as Taos Pueblo, the culture encompasses music and everything is interwoven together,” said Mirabal.
Mirabal was not groomed to become a musician – he was raised by his grandparents to become a traditional man and continue with the lifestyle of his ancestors.
“I was born into a traditional family – we were farmers,” said Mirabal. “Every spring and every fall I planted and worked the harvest and I felt that was what I was supposed to do. I grew up with my grandparents and that was my role, to be a traditional man – with one foot in politics and the other in farming, but never music.”
Mirabal recalled when he got his first flute and his first native flute.
“The very first flute I got was when I was 14 or 15, but my first native flute I got when I was about 18 years old,” he said. “In the late '80s there was hardly anybody playing that instrument, and there was even less people making these instruments.”
Although Mirabal never had formal training, he had learned some techniques and scale reading from a South American man; he found playing a flute came very easy to him.
“I learned the pentatonic scale from a South American man. Since I already had some of the techniques down with music, I picked it (the flute) up and started playing melodies,” he said.
Mirabal was astonished to hear of another flute player when he was growing up. As a young, man he met R. Carlos Nakai, the world’s foremost performer of the Native American flute, at a presentation in a nearby museum.
“R. Carlos came to do a presentation at one of the museums – it was the first time that I met him,” he said. “The museum was about three miles from the (Taos) Pueblo. I was going across the buffalo pasture, into the oil field, walking across the sage brush and I got to the museum just in time to hear him play. I had never heard another flute player play before.”
Mirabal continued to hone his skills as a flute player and flute maker. The art and science of flute-making is difficult to perfect.
“There are people who can play well, but cannot make flutes well. There are people who can make flutes well who cannot play as well. And there are very few people who can do both well,” he said.
Mirabal has strived to share his arts with the world. He has played his flute across continents and has, in turn, experienced other cultures, creating a unique style he considers his very own.
Mirabal gathers his experiences since childhood and believes his new album collectively portrays the transition and journey from boy to man. Combining photographs into a video lightshow, Mirabal’s current tour offers a deep and intense sight and sound stimulation for his audience’s pleasure.