UAKTI-Bolero

UAKTI-Bolero

Eder Santos
1987, 6:49 min, color, sound

Description

This vibrant work is a digital-image interpretation of Ravel's Bolero, as performed by the UAKTI musical group. As Santos rhythmically superimposes images of the musicians and their instruments — hand-made from wood, rubber, stone, glass, metals, plastic tubes and calabash — their percussive, reverberating music is transposed into a dynamic visual language. According to a legend of the Tucanos Indians of the Amazonian rain forest, Uakti was a monster whose body was full of holes. Wind whistled through him, a sound that attracted women, whom he then seduced. In a rage, the Indians seized, killed and buried Uakti. Three palm trees sprang up on his grave, and his spirit is said to live inside them. From the wood of these trees, the Indians built musical instruments that reproduce the sound of the rain forest wind whistling through the holes in Uakti's body.

Creator/Writer/Director/Editor: Éder Santos. Music: UAKTI (Marco Antonio, Paulo Santos, Artur Andres, Decio Ramos). Dancer: Haroldo Alves. Camera: Bellini Andrade, Marcus Vinicius Nascimento, Evandro Rogers. Producer: Marcelo Braga.