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R. Carlos Nakai

  • Music Artist
  • Composer
  • Music Department
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
“In the Beginning, there was nothing, only song. And the Lord said, ‘Ssshh! Let there be light,’ and the song stopped.” (Warner De Santis, Cosmologist) ––––––––– WARNER DE SANTIS, a cosmologist obsessed with hearing God back in time at the Origin of the Universe, disrupts a press conference and gets himself fired from NASA. The same day his wife leaves him saying, “You’ve never listened to anyone but yourself for years.” He drives east from Los Angeles, toward the desert, in search of a clear night sky. On the edge of Searles Dry Lake, he tries to drive his car to the moon. He does get airborne for about three seconds; then he drops into the dry lakebed, about two metres below. Warner awakens with minor injuries in a mining town named after a mineral, TRONA. While waiting for his car to be fixed, he encounters RICHARD, a Native American, who tells that his people, the Kawaiisu, consider the edge of the dry lake to be a kind of spiritual highway along which “Spirit Messengers” pass looking for the one to ask to do a special acts. “Old talk says”, Richard adds, “that the Origin of the Universe lies somewhere around the dry lake. Warner encounters a series of individuals that he believes might be “Messengers.” He takes what they say as instructions, and heads out into the desert “on assignment.” There, one very starry night, Warner finds the place of Origin, slides into the “Present,” and begins to hear in all the ordinary things around him – close at hand – the presence of the divine that had eluded him in the distance of space and time.
Play trailer3:19
Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake (2010)
R. Carlos Nakai was born on 16 April 1946 in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. He is a music artist and composer, known for Natural Born Killers (1994), The New World (2005) and Music (2021).
BornApril 16, 1946
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
BornApril 16, 1946
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Add photos, demo reels
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 11 nominations total

    Known for

    Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers (1994)
    Natural Born Killers
    7.2
    • Soundtrack
    • 1994
    Colin Farrell and Q'orianka Kilcher in The New World (2005)
    The New World
    6.7
    • Soundtrack
    • 2005
    Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., and Maddie Ziegler in Music (2021)
    Music
    3.2
    • Soundtrack
    • 2021
    Dance Me Outside (1994)
    Dance Me Outside
    7.1
    • Soundtrack
    • 1994

    Credits

    IMDbPro

    Composer

    • Hatti, we exist
      • Composer
      • Completed
    • Two Brothers (2018)
      Two Brothers
      Short
      • Composer
      • 2018
    • Our Cultures Are Our Source of Health
      Short
      • Composer
      • 2013
    • Independent Lens (1999)
      Independent Lens
      8.1
      TV Series
      • Composer
      • 2010
    • Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake (2010)
      Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake
      8.0
      • Composer
      • 2010
    • Lost Sparrow (2009)
      Lost Sparrow
      8.3
      • Composer
      • 2009
    • Intelligent Life: Change Your Mind, Change Your World (2009)
      Intelligent Life: Change Your Mind, Change Your World
      • Composer
      • 2009
    • A Polar Whale's Appeal
      Short
      • Composer
      • 2007
    • Cleanse & Build Inner Qi
      Video
      • Composer
      • 2005
    • Cultivate Longevity (2005)
      Cultivate Longevity
      Video
      • Composer
      • 2005
    • Develop Qi Strength & Power
      Video
      • Composer
      • 2005
    • Hard to be Lakota (2004)
      Hard to be Lakota
      • Composer
      • 2004
    • Spirit Lands: An American Desert Odyssey (2004)
      Spirit Lands: An American Desert Odyssey
      • composer
      • 2004
    • Steinauer - Nebraska
      • Composer
      • 1997
    • Robert Mason Ham and Robert McDonough in Killian's Chronicle: The Magic Stone (1994)
      Killian's Chronicle: The Magic Stone
      6.4
      • Composer
      • 1994

    Music Department

    • An Ode for Leviticus (2024)
      An Ode for Leviticus
      Short
      • music
      • 2024
    • 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006)
      10 Questions for the Dalai Lama
      7.4
      • musician: Native American flute
      • 2006
    • Jeremiah Bitsui, Alex Rice, Honorato Ninantay, and Riana M. Malabed in A Thousand Roads (2005)
      A Thousand Roads
      7.4
      Short
      • composer additional music
      • flute
      • 2005
    • Lost Forever Everett Ruess (2000)
      Lost Forever Everett Ruess
      6.8
      • composer: additional music
      • 2000
    • How the West Was Lost (1993)
      How the West Was Lost
      9.0
      TV Series
      • musician: native flute and chanting
      • musician: native American flute
      • vocalist: native American chanting ...
      • 1993–1995
    • Wind in the Wire (1993)
      Wind in the Wire
      5.8
      TV Movie
      • additional music
      • 1993

    Videos3

    A Polar Whale's Appeal
    Full Movie 6:48
    A Polar Whale's Appeal
    Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake
    Trailer 3:19
    Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake
    Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake
    Trailer 3:19
    Dancing on a Dry Salt Lake
    Lost Sparrow
    Trailer 2:10
    Lost Sparrow

    Personal details

    • Born
      • April 16, 1946
      • Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

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