"EARTH GIFT," Kevin Locke (Ixtlan Recording Consortium)

As fascinating as ancient music is -- be it Third World, indigenous, whatever -- unenhanced field recordings of such music leave most listeners cold. So producers are charged with the task of conveying old sounds in modern contexts to make them more palatable.

As a result, American Indian music typically has been subjected to the indignities of the New Age genre -- an occasional flute or drum dovetailed with omnipresent floating synthesizers. That's serviceable background noise in a shop selling dream-catchers and crystals, but it's totally inadequate as a reflection of a culture.

With "Earth Gift," Lakota flute master Kevin Locke and producer Tom Wasinger attempt to capture an essence of American Indian music that respects its origins while taking enough liberties to keep the audience engaged. Locke melds the lore of several tribes and does a bit of revising and editing to create what he calls "animal songs," "thunder songs" and "eagle vision songs" -- each generalizing universal symbols of spiritualism and the natural world. For his part, Wasinger brings aboard a few non-culture-specific instruments, even creating some of his own, to sweeten the mix without interfering with Locke's work.

The sound is surreal and mostly acoustic, driven by Locke's flute, native drums and guest vocals by Doug Good Feather and Gracie RedShirt Tyon. Locke achieves evocative tones without the assistance of synthesizers, sending out soaring notes on such songs as "Thunder Horse, Born From the Clouds" and the title track and even using a double-barrel flute to dominate "What the Eagle Sees."

Wasinger's support is essential, providing energy shifts and polish via percussion and strings, though his zither on "Muskrat" and instrumental melange on "When Thunder Calls" somewhat blur the mission of cohesive atmosphere.

Yet neither Locke nor Wasinger pretends that "Earth Gift" is pure American Indian music. They merely offer an appealing approximation.

Rating: 4

By: Chuck Campbell