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BAA co-presented a fundraiser in 1990 featuring the Brazilian avant garde musical artists Uakti (pronounced WAK´-chee), in conjunction with the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford. Uakti performed August 17, 1990, at Dinklespiel Auditorium at Stanford University. Tickets were available from both BAA and Stanford’s Tressider Box Office. BAA member David Vinokur took a lead on promotion; there were at least two newspaper articles promoting the event in advance.
“It’s unique Brazilian music,” Peter Drekmeier told the San Jose Mercury News at the time, “not the typical kind of samba-type things. They play a lot of earthy, nature songs with a lot of rhythm to it.”
Heavily experimental, the band played percussive, avant garde instrumental compositions with a jazz influence, often using unique instruments constructed by the musicians themselves. “The group’s founder, Marco Antonio Guimaraes...reworks traditional Brazilian instruments and comes up with entirely new ones — gourds filled with varying amounts of water, a wooden box with lengths of surgical tubing laced across it, a pipe with water falling inside,” wrote Mercury News columnist Kathleen Donnelly on August 16, 1990.
“The group takes its name from a monster out of a Tucano Indian legend,” wrote Carol C. Horn in The Peninsula Times Tribune on August 17, 1990. “Uakti roamed through the forests of the High Amazon. As he ran, the wind would whistle through holes in his body and make beautiful sounds.”
Uakti (aka Grupo Uakti) started in Brazil in the 1970s and steadily gained popularity in South and Central America. In the 1980s they recorded with the US band The Manhattan Transfer, and played on Paul Simon’s 1989 album The Rhythm of the Saints. Noted composer Philip Glass also took an interest in Uakti, as did Police drummer Stewart Copeland. They toured the USA several times in the 1990s.
While it was intended to be a fundraiser, BAA didn’t end up making any money. “We were approached by a woman named Marielena about hosting the event,” recalled Peter in 2025. “None of us had heard of Uakti, but they had worked with Paul Simon, so it sounded like an interesting opportunity. Back then we were willing to try almost anything.”
“We had a decent turnout, but probably only filled about half the auditorium. It felt like a successful event. We had assumed we would split the proceeds with the band, but apparently Marielena had promised them a certain amount, so all the proceeds went to the band. Lesson learned — always have a signed agreement.”
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