Agalisiga “Chuj” Mackey has penned a touching traditional contemporary country album.
The record’s guitar twangs and harmonica cries, while a fiddle and pedal steel fill the mind with images of the American West. Its presentation is enhanced by the addition of a drum kit, inviting all to take part in the classic ritual that is the two-step.
The recording meticulously embodies the traditions of genre icons Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Jimmie Rodgers and Vincent Neil Emerson.
There is just one exception.
Mackey’s 2024 debut, released on the Tulsa-based Horton Records, is sung entirely in the artist’s mother tongue —the language of the Cherokee people—Tsalagi.
Because of that seemingly simple change, Nasgino Inage Nidayulenvi (It Started in the Woods) encourages the listener to ruminate on poignant themes tied to culture, language and tradition in the United States.
Due to that seemingly simple change, Nasgino Inage Nidayulenvi encourages the listener to ruminate on salient themes tied to culture, language, and tradition in the United States and the Americas.
There is no way around it. This is a history of atrocity and genocide—a systemic oppression of those who have long occupied the land that now comprises this nation.
It is a difficult past that is often kept out of reach of most, especially in the classroom.
The Cherokee Nation Language Department reports that there are only 2,000 fluent speakers of the language today. That is down from 16,000 estimated from a survey conducted in the 1960s. Mind you, the Cherokee Nation, the largest of the three Cherokee tribes recognized by the federal government, reports that it has more than 450,000 enrolled tribal citizens.
If that is not a stark example of the United States’ ability to commit ethnocide, I don’t know what is.
Amid these inexcusable realities, Mackey’s songs are a celebration of the natural surroundings of his native Kenwood, Oklahoma, offering outsiders a glimpse into the singer’s culture and language. The album continues his ancestral tradition of giving thanks to the natural environment and its precious resources through song.
His record’s closing track, “Ginliyosv (Together),” illustrates this practice, likening the growth of a couple’s love to old-growth trees along a hillside.
“I want to be near you always like the birds that sing in trees,” Mackey sings, near the end of the piece.
A polysynthetic language, Tsalagi, is a natural medium for songwriting and storytelling. Mackey has shared that a whole sentence in English can be communicated through one longer word in Tsalagi.
“So we need to hang on to what we have, but we also need to add to it,” Mackey told NPR in 2024. “And so for me, doing songs in the Cherokee language is my way of saying, hey, look, even though this language is old, it still has importance to this day.”
In an era where the United States’ own trajectory appears to point toward further regression and inequity, Mackey’s collection of songs offers peace and an opportunity to challenge the status quo. It blends the practice of American country music, arguably the soundtrack of the oppressors, with the voice of those so deeply harmed.
Despite this realization, when I listen to this album’s 11 songs—in its unfamiliar yet undeniably American tongue—I can’t help but feel joy.
Ultimately, that makes Nasgino Inage Nidayulenvi stand as one of the most honest and important works in the tradition’s recent history.
We encourage you to learn more about the Cherokee Nation and the Indigenous Cultures Institute. Please take the time to learn about the indigenous people of your local community.
