Indians Indians (Silver Wave Records, 2003)
The poignant storytelling and thorny lyrics of Indians Indians, Robert Mirabal’s latest offering on Silver Wave Records, will capture and ensnare the listener before he even realizes it. Mr. Mirabal doesn’t ply the listener with overused, romantic visions of life as a Native American in his home of the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. Instead Mr. Mirabal coaxes the listener to a new understanding with humor and graceful imagery. Mr. Mirabal’s credits include Mirabal, Taos Tales and the multi-media project Music from a Painted Cave. He was also the 1998 and 2000 Songwriter of Year for the Native American Music Awards, so it’s no wonder Indians Indians is utterly captivating. Those familiar with Robert Mirabal know that he isn’t a slave to any category and this CD is no exception with songs ranging from rock to dreamy ballads.
The title track “Indians Indians” is a gem with witty lyrics, funky guitar licks and Mr. Mirabal’s electric delivery. The silky voice of Laura Satterfield joins Mr. Mirabal in duets “Dream of You” and “Ruler of My Heart,” while Mirabal’s long-time fans will recognize Mirabal’s flute work as it weaves its magic spell. Cellist Michael Kott is the perfect partner to Mirabal’s vocals in “Black Jack Daisy.” But it is Mr. Mirabal’s storytelling that shimmers with tracks like “Theo’s Dream,” “Days Before Christmas” and “Grandpa,” while the tribal vocals of Reynaldo Lujan and Evan Trujillo lace the story of “Blue Lake.” Listeners are sure to be delighted with guitarist Estevan Castillo’s, drummer Joel Fadness’s and bassist Robin Abeles’s performances on the track “Morrison.”
While Indians Indians possesses traditional Native American musical elements of flute, drum and tribal chant, it refuses quaint stereotypes and instead embraces both soulful passion and painful truths of Robert Mirabal and his people.
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Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
