Uakti

The Uakti are a quartet formed in 1978 by Marco Antônio Guimarães (musical director and main composer), Paulo Sérgio dos Santos, Artur Andrés Ribeiro, and Décio de Souza Ramos; the musicians have classical backgrounds and play with the Minas Gerais Symphonic Orchestra. The Uakti is devoted to extracting an extremely musical result from instruments made from PVC tubes, wood, glass, tin cans, and the like. Their name was taken from an ancient legend from the Tukano Indians of the Alto Rio Negro region in the Amazon. The legend recounts that Uakti was a musician who had holes throughout his body through which the wind would produce sounds that seduced women. Jealous, the men killed Uakti and buried him. In that place appeared three palm trees with which flutes are made, evoking the sound originally produced by Uakti's body. These instruments must be played only by men, so that the women don't feel tempted.



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