…The same observation about the African inspiration of Kassandra applies to Uncas (1986). As in the works we have just studied, François-Bernard Mâche deals in these two works with sound material of multiple origins. These include elements of rare or extinct languages, birdsong and other natural sounds, combined with a wide variety of exotic and ancient instruments: the Batak zurna (Sumatran oboe), the shahnai oboe and the Indian pungi (snake-charmers' clarinets), the arghûl (idioglottal clarinets) and the Cretan and Moroccan mandoura; the oboes ( crumhorn, bombard and rackett), the zithers (Persian santur, Japanese koto), the African balafon, the Poitou oboe. 
In Kassandra, these instruments are on tape, while in Uncas they are sampled on keyboards. 
Besides it is clear that these two pieces reflect a mosaic of cultures, civilisations, languages and atypical sound colours. For their creator, they are also a tool in the fight against the oblivion of peoples from elsewhere, and of distant sounds and memories. They are also instruments against the amnesia maintained by habits or prejudices about past or so-called exotic cultures. This is why, for example, Uncas (Last of the Mohawks) is dedicated "to the memory of extinct peoples". 
As for the treatment of African borrowings (linguistic and animal), they are developed in imitation, simultaneously or out of synch with the rest of the sound material used. 
The sequence of their sound material, imitative and repetitive, was inspired by the structure of the epic recitation of Ethiopian warriors. This material is elaborated in the spirit of the living refrain or ostinato - as is also the case in the music of Black Africa, elements whose particular tension, excitement and intensity the composer has also exploited. 
Kassandra and Uncas are also based on a strophic organisation of phrases of varying length (for the structuring of the musical phrases on the model of the Ethiopian epic recitative in Uncas, cf. the conductor's score D. F. 14256, p. 87, Ed. Durand). Each of these always ends with a single sonority. This, in relation to his theory of archetypes or models, allows François-Bernard Mâche to show the identity of each sound element used, an identity treated, however, with varying degrees of distance. More symbolically, he indicates a destiny and a freedom. 

Apollinaire Anakesa Kululuka: "L'Afrique subsaharienne dans la musique savante occidentale au XXe siècle" (Sub-Saharan Africa in twentieth-century Western art music), p.261-263.