The compilation album, Anvdvnelisgi, was released in 2022, and featured more than a dozen contemporary songs sung in the Cherokee language by Oklahoma musicians.
One of those musicians — 21-year-old Agalisiga Mackey — has built upon that, and is releasing his debut album Friday, full of original and cover songs in the Cherokee language.
KOSU's Matthew Viriyapah spoke with Agalisiga, singer-songwriter Kalyn Fay, and Cherokee translator Kathy Sierra about the process of translating a song into in Cherokee.
On singing in Cherokee
Agalisiga Mackey: I like just how it flows together, how the words connect and the meanings that come out of it.
It's a very literal language and there might not be much imagery, but the words that you put together paint such a vivid picture.
You almost don't need the imagery.
It's already there because they can see it in their heads.
For you and me, talking English is probably just like a bunch of words.
For Cherokee, whenever you say these words, there's a picture that pops into their heads, and it's like you're describing everything in this picture for them.
You don't really even need words for imagery because if you describe it good enough, then the picture is already there that you're trying to bring together.
For me, English is black and white. Cherokee, you see everything in color.Kathy Sierra
On translating songs
Kalyn Fay: When they wrote stuff down, they wrote it in phonetics and phonetics kind of change from person to person, you know, like how you think you would write something down or say something is how you're gonna write it down.
And that might not be the same way someone else might read it.
That's what kinda happened throughout this process is we translate it, and then I'd have to like, try and say it and I would say it differently than how they would write it down.
And that might not be the same way someone else might read it.
The language itself embodies the culture. It took on an even more expansive understanding than I could have even hoped for when I initially wrote it.
I'm glad there's people out there trying to get the Cherokee language out there. There's a lot of songs that need to be done.Kathy Sierra
Agalisiga's debut album, Nasgino Inage Nidayulenvi (It Started in the Woods), is out today. The release show featuring Kalyn Fay is Saturday, October 19 at Saint Cecilia's Listening Room in Tulsa.
