Luciano Lu: vocals, guitar

Chris Butcher: trombone

Maninho Costa: cuíca, pandeiro, tamborim

Carlie Howell: upright bass

Riquinho Fernandes: drum-kit

Betinho Muniz: keys, percussions, editing and mixing

He was praised for the breathtaking horn band The Heavyweights Brass Band which made its name while under Butcher’s leadership. 

Both of us played together for many years in Maninho Costa’s fantastic Samba Ensemble - Batucada Carioca, where we met. (You will be learning more about this on our next piece)

I’m disappearing in the upper right corner playing a snare drum on my arm...

Destiny is in Your Hands composition has the feeling of a bossa-nova with textures of samba. Textures which were specially harnessed by Maninho Costa’s percussion playing, including the lamenting of his cuíca. 

As you listen to the track, pay special attention to the cuíca and how it dialogues with the trombone and vocals, and sometimes moans like a wild animal…

A precursor of the cuíca called onça (name of the South American Jaguar) is a large tree-trunk drum with a similar set up that native communities built to produce a sound similar to a jaguar’s roar, thereby keeping the threat of these dangerous animals at bay. 

Though, wikipedia and other sources on the internet completely ignore this native instrument as a probable origin of the cuica, tracing its origins rather, to other Asian, African and European instruments...

Various versions of the cuíca are used throughout Brazil in many traditional musical ensembles in different forms, shapes and with various names.