Quaraçá

Length: ca. 8’30”
Instrumentation: wind quintet

The following piece is inspired by the song of the Uirapuru, a South American bird native to the Amazon rainforest. The basis for this piece is also a legend about the bird, as it is often told in Brazilian folklore.

According to this legend of Tupi origins, a young warrior and bamboo flute player named Quaraçá fell in love with the beautiful Anahí. However, Anahí was already married to a tribal chief. Desperate, Quaraçá fled to the forest, where the god Tupã took pity on him and transformed him into a bird—the Uirapuru. With his beautiful song, he could now woo and win Anahí, the love of his life, but in order to transform back into human form, Anahí had to realize that the bird was actually Quaraçá.

This legend has several possible endings, but what they all have in common is that the bird continues to sing to this day…