Uakti

Avant-Garde Music Of Brazil
Brazilian Instrumental Music

Brazilian Music

 

21
(2000)

Águas Da Amazonia
Uakti interprets Philip Glass
(1999)

Uakti's Aguas Da Amazonia is a splendid suite of liquid light manifesting itself in nine riverlike tunes that splash, wend, trickle, and gush toward the fantastical changeling closer, "Metamorphosis." A Brazilian ensemble, Uakti (pronounced wah-keh-chee) weave a chordal interplay of strings, woodwinds, and homemade percussion pieces that create complex and exotic contrapuntal melodies evoking both wind chimes and dancing water. Fittingly, the group takes its name from a mythic Amazonian creature who, as legend tells, was an enormous entity with holes running through its body, and as it would run through the forest, the wind would pass through its orifices, creating a magically beautiful music. Adding to the great pleasure of this project is the group's collaboration with renowned composer Philip Glass, whose experimental and classical blend finds itself well met in the enchanting hands of Uakti. Highly recommended for fans of Moondog, Harry Partch, Paul Winter, the Kronos Quartet, and Glenn Branca. --Paige La Grone

Years ago when I first met Uakti, I saw their music and performance as a unique and beautiful contribution to the world of new and experimental music. I became friends with musicians; especially I came to admire Marco's extraordinary ear for color and composition. I was therefore very pleased when some years later they proposed a collaboration. It would be a dance score for the ballet company Grupo Corpo of their city, Belo Horizonte. This CD represents a true melding of my music with their sensibilities. For me, it is a delight and a pleasure to hear the final result. -- Philip Glass

I Ching
(1999)

Uakti is a band of Brazilian musicians who have produced a series of very good cds combining a certain ambience (especially, the atmospheres of Amazonia) with New Age instrumental sensibilities to create a very light, and often sweet and warm, result. The arrangements employ any number of specially constructed flutes and percussion instruments. The nearest act I can compare them with is the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, minus the latter's quirkiness. All of their albums are about equally good and in general sound pretty much alike, yet each contains notable melodic hooks that will draw you in even after one hearing. --an Amazon reviewer

Trilobyte
(1997)

There is a lot of mystery in this music. The instrumentation is like nothing I've heard before, with many hand made instruments that yield polished, ageless music, that quickly becomes warmly inviting of replays. There is a fantastic variety of both melody and rhythm from track to track, and sometimes surprising transitions within the same track, all providing further amusement. The overall tone is a quiet, sustained energy, thus this is great music to stimulate new thoughts or accompany conversation, but it is reassuringly peaceful enough to fall asleep by also. --an Amazon reviewer

Mapa
(1992)

The four members of Uakti (pronounced wa-KEE-chi) all have musical degrees and jobs in various brazilian orchestras, but they would much rather be making instruments of their own design, and performing music on them that ranges from minimalist to melodic to avant-garde. This is not your typical "Ambient" music, and it is DEFINITELY not "Ethnic" in any way. (Truly good music cannot be limited to any one culture group, and to do so would deprive the music of it's universal appreciability, but that's another discussion.) At times it is achingly poigniant, at other times powerfully optimistic, but never trite or contrived. I have never heard such an amazing group. They created their own musical language, and had to make from scratch instruments suitable to express it. "A Lenda" is my favorite track, especially the middle (percussive) section and the beautiful, understated close. Surprisingly, I bought this CD because of the version of Ravel's "Bolero" found at the end (I'm a Bolero nut, obsessed almost). I didn't like the Bolero, but the rest of the disc more than makes up. In closing I'll say that you should buy this CD if you are looking for music that's unlike anything else, or if you're searching for an "Ambient/New Age" album that you can actually LISTEN to, rather than those whale noise CD's which don't go anywhere. --an Amazon reviewer
 

About Uakti
Uakti Interview (by Bruce Gilman)