They have been described as "mystical,""astonishing,""magical,""sensual," "beautiful," and "seductive." They ahve worked with such artists as Paul Simon, Philip Glass, Stewrt Copeland and the Manhattan Transfer. They have received standing ovations in Miami, Atlanta, New York, Toronto, and Chicago on their 1994 tour. They are UAKTI. UAKTI (pronounced wah-ke-chee) is a Brazilian ensemble made up of three classicly trained musicians. Their name is taken from a traditional Amazon Tucano Indian story about a monster with several holes on his body. When he ran across the forest, the wind passing through his body made wonderful and unusual sounds. UAKTI play primarily rare, one-of-a-kind instruments they make themselves. In addition, they play the more traditional flutes and woodwinds associated with native Brazilian music. The results are sound unlike anything else recorded: Brazilian and azz fuse together in looping layers with a constant percussive undercurrent. Although Uakti have been popular in their native Brazil for most of their ten years together as a band, they received their first exposure to American audiences in 1987 when they toured with Manhattan Transfer. They were critically acclaimed fof their successful combination of less traditional music and more authentic Brazilian sounds. Since then they have performed several dates in America, culminating most recently with the percussion tour extravaganza, Stewrt Copeland and the Rythmatists (1994). Uakti quickly became the highlight of the tour's performances receiving nightly standing ovations. Uakti was signed to the Point Music label by Philip Glass after he heard them on Paul Simon's Rythm of the Saints album. Glass produced their first recording, 1993's Mapa. Inearly 1994 they released their second Point album,vI ching. Based on the far easstern philosophy of the same name, the song titles:"Heaven,""Thunder,""Water,""Mountain,""Wind,""Fire," and "Lake" corrspond to the I Ching idea of eight trigrams and their related harmonic and rythmic structure. The I Ching recording debuted on the Bilboard World Music Chart at the number 8 position in Febreary of 1994. The bands' members are: Paulo Sergio Snatos, Arthur Andres and Decio de Souza Ramos. They alo work with Marco Antonio Guimaraes who helps write music and designs instruments. Uakti belongs to the Artist in Residency series at the Universidade de Minas Gerais.