Native American Nostalgia - Gary Stroutsos’ Magic Flute

 Posted By CotoBlogzz

Leavenworth, WA -  Icicle Creek Center for the Arts has scheduled an evening of traditional Native American song and enchanting storytelling for  Saturday, May 12, 7:30pm featuring Gary Stoutos, A master of the Native American Flute.

Icicle Creek Center for the Arts is Dedicated to celebrating excellence in the lively arts and inspiring generations of students, artists and audiences through exceptional educational experiences, live performances, and special events - all in the breathtaking, natural setting of the mountain meadows.


Tickets are $15.  Call the ticket office at (509) 548-6347 to order your tickets or online at  icicle@icicle.org

Lutakawi, Zuni Governor, photographed before 1925 by Edward S. Curtis

Gary Stroutos brings music traditions from the Zuni, Diné (Navajo) and Salish peoples alive.   While Dine People are often referred to as Navajo Indians the term is viewed as insulting by the Dine People

Diné (Navajo) People

Salish, or Coast Salish refers to a cultural subgroup of the First Nations in British Columbia, Canada and Native American cultures in Washington and Oregon in the United States who speak one of the Coast Salish languages.

Salish People

The Zuni are a federally recognized Native American people, who for the most part live in the Pueblo of Zuni on the Zuni River, in western New Mexico.

Gary recalls that "when I played for the first time before an all Native American audience, one of the elders from the Salish people, Oshanee, broke down crying when I began playing my elf flute. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that 'the music reminds me of days gone by and my relatives'."

Gary Stroutsos’ Magic Flute

Following the performance, Gary will host a Q&A session to answer questions about his career and the flutes that he plays.

In 2011, Gary Stroutsos worked with Julie Cajune at the HeartLines Center for American Indian Policy and Applied Research - Salish Kootenai College with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to produce Remembering the Songs, a CD and DVD collection of traditional Native American music. This project sprang, in part, from Stroutsos’s own path after he gave up a career as an Afro-Cuban jazz band leader in 1995 to pursue the simple and incredibly pure sound of the Native American flute. That path led him from the banks of the Missouri River to the red rocks of the Southwest.

Along the way elders asked him to preserve their songs through the flute and implored him to play them often, lest their songs be forgotten. Remembering the Songs reflects time spent with friend and mentor Paul Thompson, Navajo flute maker – Fernando Cecillion, Zuni song keeper – and Lucy Vandenburg, daughter of Jerome Vandenburg one of the last Salish men who made and played traditional flutes. 

Gary has performed throughout North America and in the Far East. He has played at the White House for President Clinton, and he is a frequent head-liner and master-of-ceremonies at flute festivals throughout the country. He is also a respected story teller and often combines school programs with his concerts wherever he plays. 

Gary continues to work in each of the genres for which he has become known. He continues to push musical boundaries while maintaining his romantic style. He teaches students that the magic of the flute is in loving each note and defining it carefully with the spaces around it. It is that magic that often draws fans to travel cross-country to hear him play. 

Located in 409 Icicle Road, Leavenworth, WA 98826, Icicle Creek Center for the Artis is dedicated to celebrating excellence in the lively arts and inspiring generations of students, artists and audiences through exceptional educational experiences, live performances, and special events - all in the breathtaking, natural setting of the mountain meadows.
Phone: (509) 548-6347 Toll-Free: (877) 265-6026 Email: icicle@icicle.org

For more information on Icicle Creek, please visit www.icicle.org