Douglas Spotted Eagle - Pray (1998)

Pray, Douglas Spotted Eagle's first album for Higher Octave Music, is an enthralling, provocative song cycle that in an aural spiritual journey. Spotted Eagle's music is grounded in Native American music, but he brings togehter a variety of other styles - including new age, folk and jazz - to create an utterly original sound he terms "modern ethnic.."
Each track on Pray evokes the deep, mystical underpinnings of the Native American culture. This music is born from a place that exists beyond the power lines, outside the trappings and prejudices of Western civilization. While it might seem then that the use of drum loops, keyboards, and other modern studio accoutrements would detract from Spotted Eagle's ability to speak to his listener, the noted flutist uses these instruments merely as tools to create music centred on prayer and worship. The solemn "Listen With Your Heart" features Spotted Eagle's beautiful legato flute in a solo setting. "Dreamwalk" is equally somber, as Spotted Eagle's flute soliloquizes over a droning keyboard and dense forest sounds. In contrast, "Beauty Arrives" is marked by throbbing percussion and celebratory Indian chants. Overall, Spotted Eagle's careful arrangements bring to light the sacred power of music and prayer…

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