New Cloud Heavens Video
Cloud Heavens is a sonic journey through the clouds above Grand Canyon and features music from Gary Stroutsos, world-renowned flute recording artist, and acclaimed Hopi singer and songwriter Clark Tenakhongva. Inspired by the power of the Hopi long flute (leena) to bring rain to the Hopi Mesas, this 30-minute video features Grand Canyon’s cloud patterns along with the sounds of wood, clay and voice. It will transport you to a place somewhere between the natural and ethereal.
Produced by Levi S. Davis (AZ Camera), the videographer responsible for Ongtupqa, Cloud Heavens takes its name from Tenakhongva explaining the cultural significance of the leena and how it was traditionally used to “…call upon the Cloud Heavens. It can be very powerful.”
These ancient flutes were left behind in a cave in the Lukachukai Mountains in northeastern Arizona between 620 - 670 A.D., and re-discovered in 1931. Stroutsos is considered the most proficient player of the leena alive today, and is working closely with the Hopi Tribe’s Historic Preservation Office to preserve this ancient instrument.