Kumeyaay musician uses her flute as instrument of ‘medicine for the people’ (msn.com)

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Raised in a family of musicians, Melissa Little Wolf Villalobos was introduced to Native American music by her elders. She first heard the sounds of Native American flautist R. Carols Nakai, of Navajo and Ute heritage, when she was 5 years old. Nakai’s music has been a big influence on her own journey playing and performing on the flute.

“After hearing flute for the first time, I recall how peaceful and powerful it made me feel,” she says. “What inspired me to pick up the flute instrument was to discover a unique talent of my own. The flute was an extension of my voice that I have always longed for.”

A Kumeyaay descendant of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, she is a self-taught musician specializing in the Native American flute and demonstrating her commitment to preserving the cultural and generational traditions of her community. From 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, she’s performing at the Museum of Photographic Arts at the San Diego Museum of Art. There, she’ll be surrounded by the contemporary photography of Cara Romero, a member of the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, in “The Artist Speaks: Cara Romero.

Little Wolf, 36, says that her name was called to her after discovering the similarities between this spirit animal and herself. “Just like the wolf, I have always had a wild spirit, a longing to run free, and an immense hunger for life and nature,” she says. “I am loyal, protective, strong, resilient, wise, intuitive, instinctual, and have a powerful ability to see the unseen.”