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The Cherokee National Children's Choir performing at the site of the fallen World Trade Center towers, Ground Zero, in New York City, New York.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - The Cherokee National Children’s Choir has earned two nominations for the most prestigious awards in Native American music. The choir was nominated for the Native American Music Awards (NAMMYS) in the category of Debut Artist/Group of the Year, and the group’s debut album, 'Voices of the Creator’s Children', featuring Rita Coolidge, has received a nomination for best Gospel/Christian Album. The choir joins Cherokee artists Tommy Wildcat, Lisa LaRue and the late J.B. Dreadfulwater and the Cherokee Choir as Cherokee nominees for this year’s NAMMYS.

"We are so excited", said Jamie Geneva, program director for the choir. "It is just incredible for us to have gotten these two nominations. I know that the kids will be ecstatic with this news!"

The Cherokee National Children’s Choir features children from all across the Cherokee Nation who are between the fifth and eighth grades in school. The album, 'Voices of the Creator’s Children', was the inspiration of Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, who has always believed in the potential of the group.

"These children show the strength of Cherokee culture by continuing to sing our songs that have survived for hundreds of years", Smith said. "We truly appreciate their talents, and it is good to see them get recognition on a national level."

Early in the planning stages for the record, Smith called on two-time Grammy award-winning songstress Rita Coolidge, who is of Cherokee descent (and herself a past recipient of the Native American Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAMMYS), and she agreed to lend her considerable vocal talents to the project. The choir and Coolidge were also joined on the recording by the Kenwood Emmanuel Baptist Church Choir, the Cherokee Choir, and Cherokee storyteller and musician Choogie Kingfisher. Together they created a musical statement that is steeped in the strength of the Cherokee culture, and the beauty of its language. Produced and funded by the Cherokee Nation, the album was co-produced by program director Jamie Geneva, choir director Jan Ballou, and Jeffrey Gray Parker, and was recorded at various locations in the Tahlequah area, with final production at Cimarron Sound Lab studio, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Since the release of the album earlier this year, 2002 has been an exciting time for the choir, with a busy performance schedule that has taken them as far away as New York City, where they performed at 'Ground Zero', and for several of the firehouses of the brave men and women firefighters who were called to duty on 9/11. That was followed with shows in Washington, D.C., at the venerable Smithsonian Institution, and the Department of the Interior. The Children’s Choir also made their voices heard with a stirring performance on the mall of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Winners are to be announced at the 5th Annual NAMMYS Awards ceremonies, to be held at the Marcus Amphitheater, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on September 7th, 2002.

The NAMMYS are a national platform for the exposure of both new and well-known musical talents, and features the best of Native American and Native influenced performers, from all genres and styles of music. The organization’s roster of past winners and present nominees showcases some of the biggest names in the field of entertainment. The nominees were selected from a field of over 140 entries. The Native American Music Awards advisory membership then narrowed the submissions to five artists for final nomination in each category.

Joining the Cherokee Nation Children’s Choir as a nominee in the Gospel/Christian Album category is the late J.B. Dreadfulwater and the Cherokee Choir. Dreadfulwater was a renowned Cherokee singer for many years. Cherokee flutist Tommy Wildcat was nominated in the Flutist of the Year category. Another Cherokee Nation project, 'Children's Songs in the Cherokee Language', with Lisa LaRue and Anna Huckaby, is nominated for Best Historical Recording. Winners will be determined through membership ballot, and national online voting, which is now open to the general public at the Native American Music Awards ( Nammys) web site. To listen to the nominees and to vote online, visit NAMMYS Vote, but to vote, you must first be registered.