Album Sung Entirely In Cherokee Language Previewed In Tulsa

Some Cherokee Tribal leaders and others are among the first to hear music that will be featured soon in an all-Cherokee language album. Multiple artists will be featured on the contemporary music album, which will be sung entirely in the Cherokee language. The producers say performances like this are rare.

The album's ten artists, some already Cherokee speakers, worked more than 10 months with Cherokee language experts to hone their language skills for the album. Cherokee is classified as an endangered language, with a dwindling number of fluent speakers.

Executive Director of the Tribal Language Department, Howard Paden, said a single Cherokee word can convey complex emotions and ideas that would take a full sentence in English. "It comes from the very roots of humanity our language does ... There's different levels," he said.

Although this kind of album is rare, it's producers hope it reminds people the Cherokee language and culture is thriving. Wednesday was a preview - Horton Records hopes to release the album in full by Labor Day.