Hilda Paredes is one of the most valuable voices of Mexican contemporary music. The title of Uy u'tan means "listen how they talk" in Mayan. Paredes explains: When I began writing the piece, I decided to treat the instruments as characters in a play. I considered each one separately: a crazy and hyperactive first violin, a more relaxed and expressive viola, an absentminded cello, and an introverted and sometimes clumsy second violin. The interaction between them provided the shape of the piece, in four sections. Uy u'tan was commissioned by October in Normandie 1998 for the Arditti Quartet.