Douglas Spotted Eagle
| Douglas Spotted Eagle | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Valley Junction, Iowa |
| Occupation(s) | Flutist, musician |
| Labels | Windham Hill Records[1] |
| Website | spottedeagle.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Flute | |
Douglas Spotted Eagle, is a Grammy-winning musician, noted for his live and recorded performances on the traditional Native American flute, sometimes accompanied by either traditional Navajo (Diné) singers and instrumentalists or a modern band. He is listed in The Native American Almanac as a flutist who does traditional and new age music,[2] and in World Music By Richard Nidel as a flutist and film composer "who incorporates synthesizers into Native sounds."[3] He is also a lecturer and publisher of instructional books and DVDs for music and video computer software.
Music career
Many call his music "modern ethnic", as it mixes jazz, new age, pop, and world beat with Native American music. Spotted Eagle received a Grammy Award for his production of Gathering of Nations Powwow, and along with numerous collaborations has released 13 albums under his own name and contributor to several hundred others. His website shows him as producer of many recordings for Native American artists such as Nino Reyes, James Bilagody, Wil Numkena, Black Lodge Singers, and many many others.
He was raised in Valley Junction, Iowa, and has been building flutes since he was 12 years old, and he performed traditional music as well as being a guitarist for a popular rock and roll band after his family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah. He was married to a Diné woman from Bluff, Arizona. Spotted Eagle lives in Utah and works in support of youth anti-drug causes as well as being involved in the prevention of child abuse. After losing his son to suicide he became active in both Native and non-Native suicide prevention and awareness programs. He has been heavily involved in the Children's Justice Center as a fundraiser. He also teaches filmmaking to aspiring Native filmmakers. His recordings include Canyon Speak, Closer to Far Away, PRAY, Legend of the Flute Boy and Sacred Feelings.[4]
Video production and software
Spotted Eagle is also involved in the field of video production and regularly writes articles for Videography, Studio, DMN, Creative COW, other magazines, and VASST, and tours doing training for Adobe, Apple, Sony Media Software. His interests outside of music and video production appear to include skydiving. Douglas was nearly killed in a skydiving accident when he made a piloting error. His music is featured in many films and television shows. He is the producer of Sundance Media Group's 2002 video The Way of the Pow-Wow.[5]
Background
He is not an enrolled member of any tribe, but grew up with both Lakota and Navajo families, the former of which gave him his name when he was 14 or 16.[6][7] He does not claim tribal membership, but has several Lakota and Navajo family members on his Facebook page that call him "brother." His adoption into and of Native American culture as well as his use of a Native American name have come under scrutiny. He participated in the Sand Creek Massacre site location hearings in Montana, Denver, and Washington D.C..[8]
Discography
- 1990 - Sacred Feelings (SOAR)
- 1991 - CanyonSpeak (SOAR; reissued 2000)
- 1991 - Legend of the Flute Boy (SOAR; reissued 2007)
- 1992 - Stand at the Center (Natural Visions NV101)
- 1993 - Human Rites (Natural Visions NV102)
- 1994 - Ultimate Collection (Natural Visions/NV103)
- 1994 - Common Ground (Natural Visions/NV106)
- 1995 - Between Father Sky and Mother Earth by Various Artists
- 1996 - Closer to far Away (Windham Hill/BMG)
- 1997 - Tenaya: Ode to Yosemite (Natural Visions/NV120)
- 1998 - Pray (Higher Octave)
- 1999 - Voices
Books
- Voices of Native America. Illustrated by Ralph L. Smith. Eagle's View Pub., ISBN 0-943604-56-7. ISBN 978-0-943604-56-5.[9] (1997).
- Instant Sound Forge (VASST) (2004)
- Using Soundtrack: Produce Original Music for Video, DVD, and Multimedia (2004) ISBN 978-1578202294
- Instant Digital Audio: VASST Instant Series (2005 ) ISBN 978-1-57820-276-8
- Vegas Editing Workshop (2005) ISBN 1-57820-279-5
- Instant Adobe Encore (2005)
- The Guerilla Filmmaker's Workshop (2005)
- Basics of Digital Video (Sony) (2006)
- YouTube for Dummies (technical editor) (2007)
- HDV: What You NEED to Know (2008)
- The Full HD: A Complete Guide to High Definition Video (2011)
- Vegas Pro Editing Workshop (2012) ISBN 0-240-82369-9
- Beyond the Full HD (4K/8K) third ed (2013)
- The Book of Wingsuit Formations (2013) ASIN: B00BNHQ9U4
References
- ↑ Web.archive.org
- ↑ The Native American Almanac by Arlene B. Hirschfelder, Martha Kreipe De Montaño
- ↑ World Music by Richard Nidel, p. 311
- ↑ The Native American Almanac By Arlene B. Hirschfelder, Martha Kreipe De Montaño, page 174
- ↑ Handbook of Native American Mythology by Dawn Elaine Bastian, Judy K. Mitchell, page 244
- ↑ Spottedeagle.com
- ↑ Mixonline.com
- ↑ Halfbreed by David F. Halaas, Andrew E. Masich prologue p. vii
- ↑ Source for The Great Plains Region by Amanda Rees The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Regional Cultures
External links
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