Connor Chee is a Diné (Navajo) composer and pianist who plays his own music on a new album, "Sandpaintings." The title refers to a form of Native art with healing properties, rich in symbolism and cultural references. The music reflects those visual representations in a carefully designed cycle. KBACH’s Michael Keelan talked with Chee. See more at Wild Saguaro Records. Michael Keelan: This is KBACH’s First Take, and I'm Michael Keelan. I'm talking with composer and pianist Connor Chee about his new album Sandpaintings, and he is depicting some Navajo or Diné artwork in this music. He is a member of the Navajo Nation. Welcome to First Take. Connor Chee: Thanks for having me. Michael Keelan: How long has this album been in the making? Connor Chee: You know, it's been in the works for years, because I actually wrote the pieces back in 2021. Someone else, Joel Shanehouse, who commissioned the pieces, recorded it a few years ago. And so my recording took a while to come out, but I've been working on the recording itself for a couple years. Michael Keelan: How are these sand paintings made? Have you seen them created? Connor Chee: Yeah, I've seen them. They take different colored sands and they sprinkle them to create different designs. Traditionally, they were used as a part of ceremony, but now you can actually just have them as works of art that are outside of the ceremonial context. Michael Keelan: And they have a very clear structure to them, which you've reflected in the groupings of the short piano pieces within this cycle. It's a very structured cycle with four subsets—if I may call them that—of a color followed by natural phenomena. Can you describe the organization of the set? Connor Chee: Yeah, a lot of the traditional sand paintings follow the same format as our traditional homes, which are circular, and they have an opening that points towards the east. The homes open towards the east to sort of greet the rising sun and welcome in blessings. And so the sand paintings will be structured the same way, where you have an image that starts in the east, and then it's repeated in each of the cardinal directions. So with my music, I wanted to do the same thing where I had a melody that starts in the east and it's reflected in all four directions in different ways. It goes through different permutations until it gets to the north, where it's actually in its original form. So what you actually hear at first in the eastern direction is an upside-down version of the melody, and it goes through different through different permutations until it gets to that sort of homeostasis at the end, which is representative of how the sand paintings were originally meant to heal people—to take something that was out of balance and bring it into balance. Michael Keelan: Can you talk more about that? So they have a medicinal quality to them? Connor Chee: Yeah, we have sort of this life philosophy called Hózhó, which is roughly translated as balance and beauty. And so we use our traditional medicines and our traditional artwork, traditional songs, to help restore balance to someone that could be having either something physically wrong or it could be something emotionally wrong, or in your life, something's out of balance. We use all of these different things to bring balance to this person. And so the sand paintings traditionally were a part of that, and so music can also be a part of that. That's sort of what I hope to do with my music is sort of take these melodies that were out of balance and bring the listener, eventually after listening to the full cycle, back into balance. Michael Keelan: What are the natural phenomena? You know, you have the mountain associated with a direction and the lightning. How did those come into play? Connor Chee: Well, I wanted to make sure that I was respectful in not taking anything that was meant only for ceremonial purposes—anything that was sacred and shouldn't be shared outside of that context. So I decided to take a few elements that were appropriate to share that you might see in sand paintings. So, for example, the mountains or the lightning, which represents protection and power; clouds, that can represent rain and sustenance; and our four sacred stones. So those were the inspirations behind each of the sets of pieces. Michael Keelan: So the colors are associated with stones? Connor Chee: Yeah, so it starts out with white shell. We associate that with the eastern direction, with sunrise. Then there's turquoise, and abalone, and jet. So each of the four directions has a stone that's associated with it. Michael Keelan: Are there any geographical references in the mountains? That is, we think of South Mountain in Phoenix. Are these specific places? Connor Chee: Yeah, we actually have four sacred mountains that depict the traditional homelands. So the San Francisco Peaks outside of Flagstaff are one of our traditional sacred mountains, and they sort of depict the area that we consider to be our traditional home. Michael Keelan: Would you mind outlining where those are? Connor Chee: Yeah, so I can tell you. I'll have to think about this for a second. So the eastern mountain, which we call Sisnaajiní, I think that's Blanca Peak. We have Tsoodził, which is, I think, Mount Taylor in New Mexico. Then the San Francisco Peaks, which we call Doko'oosłííd, and then we have Dibé Ntsaa, which I believe is Mount Hesperus. Michael Keelan: You perform this piece clearly yourself. Is it something that if someone else were to perform it, you would suggest always playing it as a cycle, or it could be excerpted? Connor Chee: You know, I think with a lot of my music, I try to create it to be modular. So it is designed to be played as a full cycle, but they could also be played as individual pieces, or just sets of four where you have the four pieces that are related melodically. Or you could do a set of four pieces in one direction. So they really are—I try to have them be versatile so they can fit in a different type of program depending what music you're including. Michael Keelan: You grew up in Arizona and live here now. What elements of this area, Diné and beyond, were influential to you in your music? Connor Chee: You know, growing up, one of my earliest musical influences was my grandfather singing traditional Diné Navajo music. So I think that was definitely a guiding force when I compose any of my music, but specifically with these pieces that were based on the traditional art. And, you know, I'm inspired by the landscapes and I have a connection to the land in my music. And so, you know, obviously specifically being with the mountains, but in general, when I'm looking for inspiration in my music, I will turn to the place where I'm from. The Arizona landscapes are so special and so distinct that those are sources of inspiration for me. Michael Keelan: Can you give any hints of what you're working on at the moment? Connor Chee: I'm actually working on a flute concerto for flute and chamber orchestra at the moment. Michael Keelan: Connor Chee, the new album is Sandpaintings. Thanks very much for talking with us on First Take today. Connor Chee: I appreciate it. Thank you.