About the Cherokee National
Children's Choir

The Cherokee National Youth Choir performs traditional Cherokee songs in the Cherokee language. The Cherokee National Youth Choir was envisioned and founded by Principal Chief Chad Smith, who saw it as a way to keep our Cherokee youth involved in the Cherokee language and culture. They function as an important symbol to the world, demonstrating that Cherokee language and culture continues to thrive in modern society. Founded just two years ago, the group has already recorded two CDs, including one featuring two-time Grammy Award winner Rita Coolidge.

The Choir acts as ambassadors for the Cherokee Nation, their beautiful voices showing the strength of the Cherokee Nation and its culture more than 160 years after the Cherokees' forced removal from its eastern homelands.

The goal of the Cherokee National Youth Choir is to increase awareness of Cherokee culture both within the Cherokee Nation as well as among the dominant culture. Through the success of the Cherokee National Youth Choir, interest in the Cherokee language has been rekindled among young people throughout the Cherokee Nation. Several area schools now use the CDs as a learning tool and other schools are interested in developing curriculum to teach Cherokee language and music.

Principal Chief Smith pledged to make preserving language and culture a priority at the Cherokee Nation. The success of the Cherokee National Youth Choir has helped spark a cultural renaissance among the Cherokee people.

The Cherokee National Youth Choir is made up of Cherokee youth from northeastern Oklahoma communities like Kenwood, Oaks, Leach, Briggs and Tahlequah. These young people compete in rigorous auditions every year for inclusion in the Cherokee National Youth Choir.

Cherokee National Children's Choir Wins at Native American Music Awards

September 9, 2002

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin-The Cherokee National Children's Choir won the Best Gospel Album award at the most prestigious Native American musical event of the year, the Native American Music Awards (NAMMYS). The choir, which earned two NAMMY nominations, was also invited to perform a medley of selections from their award winning CD, "Voices of the Creator's Children," featuring Rita Coolidge.

The Cherokee National Children's Choir is composed of 30 children from Cherokee communities like Kenwood, Oaks, Leach, Briggs and Tahlequah. The choir members are between the sixth and ninth grades. Their 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."

Since the release of the album last 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 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, and now, a show stopping performance in Milwaukee that the Cherokee Nation will remember for a lifetime.

Their Cherokee National Children's Choir's performances in September included the Tulsa Performing Arts Center where they will performed at a memorial service to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.