NY | Native Sounds Downtown: Agalisiga “The Chuj” Mackey

Welcome Cherokee country and blues musician Agalisiga “The Chuj” Mackey to the Native Sounds Downtown stage at our New York museum this November! Performances begin at 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. Agalisiga "The Chuj" Mackey is a musician and educator from the Cherokee Nation in Northeast Oklahoma. Mackey spent his early years in the traditional Cherokee community of Kenwood, OK, where his mother’s family settled after the forced removal of Cherokee people from what is now North Carolina. Mackey later moved to Tahlequah, capital of the Cherokee Nation, to become fluent in the Cherokee language at the Cherokee Immersion School. Mackey grew up participating in traditional Cherokee ceremonies and singing ceremonial songs. He also draws inspiration from the “Father of Country Music” Jimmie Rodgers and hill country blues musician R.L. Burnside. He writes and sings original compositions in the Cherokee language in his deep baritone voice, melding classic country and blues. In addition to his artistic endeavors, Mackey is a father of two, and an educator. Today, he works as a language and culture educator at the Cherokee Immersion School, where he teaches children from Pre-K to 8 th grade about ceremonial and modern Cherokee music. Mackey says, "Cherokee youth seeing their language and culture in a modern medium will remind them that their language and culture inspires creation." Mackey’s debut album Nasgino Inage Nidayulenvi (It Started in the Woods) , releases on October 18, 2026. Image: Photo courtesy of Agalisiga Mackey