“I've been called a minimalist composer for more than 30 years, and while I've never really agreed with the description, I've gotten used to it.” ―Philip Glass

Philip Glass's serious work in the field of "world music" was recognized long before the term entered the popular vocabulary. One of the most fruitful collaborations was the Aguas da Amazonia, performed by the Brazilian ensemble Uakti (pronounced wah-keh-chee). Aguas de Amazona is an aural journey through the waters of the Amazon, manifesting itself in nine riverlike tunes that splash, wend, trickle, and gush toward the fantastical climax, "Metamorphosis." Over the last twenty years, the award winning experimental group Uakti has weaved 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. Like the legendary creature, Uakti makes unbelievable sounds. The magic of their music starts with the construction of their own exotic instruments using everyday materials: pipe, glasses, metal, rocks, rubber, and ever water.