Biography

Native American flutist Golana´, a member of the Echota Cherokee tribe, began a spiritual quest 15 years ago that completely changed his life, resulting in the discovery of his heritage, the development of his flute playing, and the release of four award-winning albums.

“Although I play mostly wooden Native American flutes, I don’t play traditional American Indian music,” explains Golana´.  “I wasn’t raised on a reservation or taught native traditions by my grandparents, so I bring sounds to my music that influenced me when I was growing up – church hymns, pop songs, and even classical composers like Chopin and Mozart.”

Golana´ is a “rock sitter” – often composing while he is out in nature in majestic settings such as the Sierras, Joshua Tree and Sedona.  His first album, Path to the Heart, all original material played on solo flutes, was a finalist in the NAV (New Age Voice) Music Awards for “Best Meditation & Healing Music.”

His second release, Walk Between Worlds, debuted on NAV’s “Airwaves Top 100” radio chart at #2 and stayed in the Top 40 for five months.  It won the 2000 COVR (Coalition of Visionary Retailers) Award for “Best Native American Music” and was nominated for “Best Instrumental Record” in the prestigious NAMMY (Native American Music) Awards.  On that album, Golana´ began sharing producer and arrangement credits with keyboardist and guitarist David Chamberlin, who added his instruments to the fuller ensemble sound they were creating.  Feather on the Wind (which was his third album and debuted in the Top 10 on the NAV “Airwaves Top 100” chart) was named a Finalist in the NAV Music Awards for “Best Native American Album”, was the winner of the COVR Award for “Best Native American Music” and earned Golana´ NAMMY nominations for “Best Male Artist” and “Flutist of the Year.” Golana´’s fourth album, Moon of First Snow, was as lauded as its predecessors, earning Golana´ a stunning fifth NAMMY nod in the Fall of 2003.

Most of Golana´’s music is slow, emotive and spiritual.  “When I play, it’s the long, drawn-out sounds of the flute that capture the feelings, the emotion and the passion in the compositions.  The poignancy and slow pace of the songs helps me convey the longing, the love, the pain, the rejection, the sacrifices and all of the other feelings that inspired the writing of that music.  I hope the listener will slow down, to move with the music, and see if it helps them to visit places of contemplation that modern life doesn’t often allow.”

Although now renowned in the field of Native American music, Golana´’s path had a much different beginning.  He was born and raised as Scott Cunningham in the city of Ontario in Southern California as part of what was an Anglo, Protestant, religiously strict family.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that he discovered his great-great-grandmother, Olevia Evans, was full-blooded Cherokee.  Although his family never acknowledged the native part of their history when he was growing up, his love of nature and music, and the attraction of alternative spiritual paths always gave him a sense of something unexplained.

His first musical influence was church hymns – “I still love to play them”, he reports.  As a youngster he studied both piano and trumpet and had a strong love for music as a listener.  “When I was young, I liked anything with acoustic guitars, harmonies and flowing melodies, especially Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Dan Fogelberg, The Eagles, America, The Marshall Tucker Band, Jimmy Buffett and the more-acoustic songs of Led Zepplin and the Moody Blues.  Today I can hear many of those influences in my music along with early Windham Hill artists like George Winston, and musicians I have turned to in more recent years like Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai.”

After years of trying to fit into the world of corporate office (a period of drug and alcohol dependency), he changed his life, started his own computer software consultancy business, and began hunting for a new spiritual path.  That exploration included a look at Native American history and spirituality.  He began reading Black Elk, Rolling Thunder, Fools Crow and Tom Brown, Jr. and moved away from the ocean “and began the mountain and desert phase of my life” which included hiking, camping and long meditative walks.  He met with Native Americans living in California and also went on arecheology trips in the Southwest to study the ancient Anasazi Indians.  He took nature classes, studied plant uses, learned how to build shelters in the wilds, and practiced animal tracking.  After his family became aware of his passionate interest in American Indians, his aunt casually mentioned to him one day their family’s Native American heritage.  “I almost fell out of my chair.  A light came on – so many things finally made sense in my life.  It all meshed.  The way I looked at life, especially spirituality, was in my blood, but I was the first person in four generations to care about that part of our family’s background.”

But the spiritual quest was far from over.  “I wanted to find out what I could do with my life, what I could add to the world that would make it a better place.  One day, at a nature class, I was walking down a road by myself asking the Creator ‘Why am I here?’ when I heard someone playing a Native American flute about 200 yards away.  I was drawn to the sound.  I spoke to the musician and soon after that I took a flute-making class.  Later at a powwow I bought a good wooden flute.  One time when I was really hurting inside, I went out into a field where I prayed and asked for help.  Then I started playing the flute and I poured all my feelings into those notes.  The beauty of the sounds made me realize I wanted to pursue flute playing.”

Golana´ began taking his flute everywhere with him, playing it as much as possible.  Eventually people began asking him if he had any albums for sale.  This inspired him to make his first album.  Finally, Cunningham attended a special ceremony where a Cherokee elder gave him his Indian name, Golana´ (which means Raven) and told him he would one day serve as a messenger between the spirit world and this world.