Biography
Formed in 1978, the quartet Uakti brought together Marco Antônio Guimarães, serving as musical director and chief composer, with Paulo Sérgio dos Santos, Artur Andrés Ribeiro, and Décio de Souza Ramos. These classically trained players also appear with the Minas Gerais Symphonic Orchestra. The group concentrates on coaxing richly musical timbres from unconventional instruments built out of PVC tubes, wood, glass, tin cans, and comparable materials. Its name originates in a Tukano Indian legend from the Alto Rio Negro region of the Amazon, recounting how the musician Uakti, his body pierced with holes, produced wind-driven sounds that enticed women; jealous rivals then killed and buried him, after which three palm trees grew and supplied the wood for flutes that echo those earlier tones, instruments thereafter restricted to male performers to prevent stirring female desire.
Residents of Minas Gerais, the musicians drew the notice of Milton Nascimento, who sponsored the ensemble, included them on his own recordings, and produced their debut LP, Uakti/Oficina Instrumental, in 1981. The marimba fashioned from Angelim wood, later central to their sound, surfaced on the second album, Uakti II (1982). After touring internationally and securing foreign releases for their discs, the 1989 LP Mapa featured an instrumental reading of “Dança dos Meninos,” a piece co-written by Guimarães and Milton Nascimento.
Residents of Minas Gerais, the musicians drew the notice of Milton Nascimento, who sponsored the ensemble, included them on his own recordings, and produced their debut LP, Uakti/Oficina Instrumental, in 1981. The marimba fashioned from Angelim wood, later central to their sound, surfaced on the second album, Uakti II (1982). After touring internationally and securing foreign releases for their discs, the 1989 LP Mapa featured an instrumental reading of “Dança dos Meninos,” a piece co-written by Guimarães and Milton Nascimento.
Albums
