ST. GEORGE — Arvel Bird will mix musical styles and stories into an original concert featuring the violin, flute, Native drumming and singing Friday at 7 p.m. at the St George Electric Theater.
“Tribal Music Suite-Journey of a Paiute” features Bird, a mixed-blood American Indian, Southern Paiute and Celtic heritage, Clan Kennedy Scotland. Bird said the music is of his Higher Essence Being and anyone who listens to his music will find themselves taking a personal journey.
Bird will perform with his violin, Native flutes and Irish whistles, an original 8-movement concerto. He is touring to promote his album “Tribal Music Suite-Journey of a Paiute” and novel, “The King’s Head Violin-Journey of a Paiute,” co-authored by Fred Rothert, a long-time collaborator.
This project is drawn from Bird’s background in a wide variety of music. In 1973, his first musical composition also happened when he had a vision.
“I played that music every morning for years and a movie also played in my mind at the same time. The same movie every day,” Bird said. “This creation took on a life of its own and would take 35 years to complete along with a year and a half to record becoming the “Tribal Music Suite-Journey of a Paiute.”
The novel that accompanies his latest CD may be a work of fiction, but Bird feels it is also a “past-life mind movie.” The book covers the life of a mixed-blood boy named Quaninch, born in 1829 to a Nuwuvi Indian mother and a Scottish father, a trapper, trader, explorer and fiddler, according to a press release.
“It was as though the story came out of the memories stored deep within my own DNA,” Bird said.
Bird is a classically trained violinist who mixes music styles of Celtic and bluegrass with his original Native American folk and Celtic rock orchestrations.
His love affair with the violin began when he wanted to play the trumpet, but his mother wasn’t having it.
“When I was nine, my older brother played the accordion and my older sister and younger brother both played the piano. I was desperate to play something and I thought that trumpet was the instrument for me,” Bird said. “But when I told my mother I wanted to play the trumpet, she said, ‘Well, we have a violin under the bed. You either play that or you don’t play.’ ”
Luckily for him, he said he opened the violin case and was instantly enamored with the instrument.
“I like to say it’s my destiny because when I saw that violin, I fell in love. And I’ve never quit; I’ve played just about every day ever since,” he said.
Bird said he is grateful he is able to be a professional violinist. He enjoys sharing his gift and wants to do it as long as possible. Through the end of the year, he will be touring St. George, Kanab and Page, Arizona. Next year, he will be traveling to Florida for some dates, including a Native American Flute festival.
Tickets for the show are $10 for children and $20 for adults and are available here.
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