Capoeira Angola & Percussion » Kabula Rio de Janeiro

I Encontro da Memória da Capoeira Angola do Rio de Janeiro, veja o vídeo!

alex — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 04:10:57 +0000

I Encontro da Memória da Capoeira Angola do Rio de Janeiro

clique aqui para ver o video

O I Encontro da Capoeira Angola do Rio de Janeiro, que aconteceu nos dias 8 e 9 de Outubro de 2011 concentrou a energia e as estórias da capoeira angola do Rio de Janeiro no coração no Largo dos Guimarães, no coração de Santa Teresa.
Foi um fim de semana regado a muita capoeira e conversa com convidados especiais e alunos que tiveram muito tempo para trocar ideias e relembrar fatos e vivências em comum da Memória da capoeira carioca e daqueles que dela participaram e ainda participam.
O evento que contou com a presença de Mestres que a muito não se reuniam para jogar, tocar e participar de uma celebração que agora entrar para o calendário cultural da capoeira do Rio de Janeiro.
Quem não pode vir dessa vez poderá então participar em 2012 quando mais um Memória acontecerá!
Parabéns a todos o participantes, visitantes, Mestres e demais lideres de Grupos, mas principalmente a Capoeira Angola, que agora ganha mais dia no calendário cultural do Rio de Janeiro!

Capoeira Presentation/History

alex — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:31:36 +0000

Dr Matthias Röhrig Assunção

This text was kindly provided by Dr Matthias Röhrig Assunção (Univertisty of Essex)

Capoeira presentation/history to Kabula website.

African slaves and their Brazilian-born descendants (called Creoles) developed capoeira in port cities like Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife and others. They built on earlier African fighting techniques and combat games, mainly from West Central Africa, as well as musical and rhythmic traditions. They merged and transformed the energy of their dances, the excitement of fighting duels, the vitality of rituals and the hypnotic percussion of their ancestors to create one of the most original cultural practices of Brazil, also known at the time as the ‘sorcery game’ (jogo de mandinga) or ‘vagrancy’ (vadiação). Capoeira development reflects the new social and cultural context of plantation societies in the Americas, where cunning (malandragem) became a core strategy of survival for the enslaved as well as for the free poor, relegated to second-class citizens because of race and class discrimination. For that reason the elites always considered it as a dangerous practice. Police chiefs made sure that any person caught in the streets playing capoeira was arrested and harshly punished; slaves were savagely whipped. Nonetheless, capoeira survived by adapting to, infiltrating and subverting existing power structures. In cities such as Rio de Janeiro, capoeiras established strategic alliances with the powerful, who used them as their private militias. The association with political parties during the Brazilian Empire collapsed with the establishment of the Republic in 1889. The first Republican police chief arbitrarily deported hundreds of capoeiras to a distant island in the Atlantic. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Capoeira in Rio de Janeiro was significantly weakened, although not extinct. In other regions, where repression had been less systematic, capoeira survived better. In Salvador and the surrounding Bay of All the Saints, in particular, capoeira remained more embedded in its African roots, and associated to other Afro-Bahian forms such as samba-de-roda. The best capoeira players could be seen on Sundays in working-class neighbourhoods or during the annual cycle of celebrations of saints between November and Carnival in February.

During the first decades of the 20^th century, capoeira had to face new challenges, in particular from Japanese martial arts that were brought to Brazil. As Jiujitsu champions challenged Brazilian fighters in the ring, various martial artists in Brazil recognized the need for capoeira to modernize. Mestre Bimba stood out among them, because he transformed capoeira into a modern and efficient fighting style, without relinquishing its Afro-Brazilian heritage. His capoeira Regional style incorporated new kicks and developed a systematic training method, but maintained the capoeira music, rhythms and songs as well as the ritual of the roda (the circle where capoeira is performed). Regional contributed decisively to the successful modernization of capoeira. Since the 1950s, Bahian capoeira, mainly in its Regional form, spread to other Brazilian cities. More traditionalist capoeira mestres – among which prominently figures Mestre Pastinha – developed an alternative path of modernization from the 1940s onwards, which they baptized capoeira (de) Angola. Angoleiros emphasize theatricality, traditions, musicality whilst criticizing excessive sportivization of the art.

From the 1960s onwards, Bahian capoeiristas migrated to the main southeastern Brazilian cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They taught both styles, and capoeira started to be widely practised by a whole new generation of Brazilians from various social backgrounds. Ever since capoeira has spread to the rest of Brazil, and is now practiced in every state of the Federative Republic. Capoeira also started to expand to the US and Western Europe in the late 1970s, and to other continents since the 1990s. It is now practised in most countries around the world. Capoeira has also evolved further, to the point that the traditional distinction between Regional and Angola is no longer sufficient for the understanding of contemporary styles. Contemporary capoeira has incorporated many features from both styles, and the most important groups have all developed their own, distinctive style. Some fitness gurus teach capoeira as a kind of extreme sport, whilst others use capoeira techniques in free-style fighting competitions . Capoeira techniques are also widely used by theatre groups or dancers.

Since the 1960s capoeira has gradually obtained wider social recognition in Brazil. Capoeira became a popular theme in movies and music (MPB). This process was intensified by the spectacular growth of the art and its globalization. More recently capoeira has been recognized an intangible heritage by the Brazilian government.

Imagine a street with no cars, a street with bikes and space!

alex — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:02:37 +0000

Cycling Friendly Cities film

We are changing in that way and there is no other way to go. It’s quite urgent and the examples given from the cities which have done this choice are the proof that it’s possible!

Look to your street full of cars and with no space for you kids to play around. Look to your city and get annoied by the fact that you have (every day) to spend much more time to go and come then would be necessary.

Why? Cars in excess! Who is doing that? You are and it’s you decision which can change that situation.

Watch this film and spread the word!

Cycling Friendly Cities

Pedalando para o futuro! Cycling to the future!

alex — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:57:00 +0000

Bike sign in the street of Lectoure, France

Se você um dia passar por cidades como Bogotá, Amsterdam, Copenhagen ou em Beijing você poderá se surpreender com a quantidade de pessoas de todas as idades pedalando para o trabalho, para a escola ou pelo simples prazer que esta atividade proporciona ao ciclista.

Ao contrário dessa realidade, aqui no Brasil o que vemos nas ruas de duas das mais importantes cidades das Américas (Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo) é um amontoado de pessoas enfrentando filas e as normalmente se engalfinhando para acessar os milhares de ônibus das incontáveis empresas que abarrotam as vias publicas e promovem o caos no meio urbano.

A população que utiliza esses meios de transporte, está literalmente nas mãos daquilo que se chama máfia dos transportes e da indústria automobilística, que envolve grandes empresas de ônibus, politicos, interesses imobiliários, Shell, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Petrobrás. Enfim, uma monstruosa armadilha onde o cidadão é apenas massa de manobra mexida e remexida, e por fim triturada ao gosto do poder e da manipulação de uma pequena elite de multimilionários que dominam o Brasil e o mundo.

Do outro lado dessa cena está o ciclista, o skatista ou o patinador que heroicamente conseguiu se libertar de anos da “escravidão” engendrada pela lavagem cerebral de campanhas de marketing e propagandas. Planos de desenviolvimento do Pais que envolveu negociatas historicas. Manobras politicas escandalosas manobradas pelas grandes companhias automobilísticas. Isso sem falar das Rede Ferroviaria Federal Sociedade Anonima – RFFSA extinta, sucateada, e destrocada por diversos periodos de desgoverno do Brasil.

Essas mega corporações mancumunadas com as gigantes do petróleo conseguiram dominar o planeta já há algumas décadas através da força, da corrupção e do poder. Mas assim como existem a ganância e a sede de poder, existe também o ciclista, que como Platão em seu mito da Caverna ou Morpheus e Neo do filme Matrix, dirigido pelos irmãos Wachowski, conseguiu enxergar para além da software que foi implantado em nossas mentes. De escravos se tornarnaram hackers do sistema, preferindo viver nos interstícios do programa. Pedalando valente e ”inocentemente” por entre carros e ônibus ferozes.

A bicicleta, como a democratização da informação atraves da internet, pode ser o reverso do mito da caixa de pandora. Quando finalmente a abrirmos vamos com isso libertar o conhecimento e a inteligência numa tentativa de contra-sabotagem de toda essa força destrutiva que despeja anualmente um numero incessante de milhoes de carros * nos asfaltos de nossas cidades.

O ato simbólico de pedalar todo dia para o trabalho, para a capoeira, academia ou de ir pedalando para o parque ou para a praia com nossos filhos pode incitar uma transformação real que ainda não mostrou em nada sua força e poder de mudança.

Veja como a fórmula pode ser simples:

Menos automóveis nas ruas = mais espaço = menos stress = menos violência = menos policiamento nas ruas = mais policiais onde são necessários = menos corrupção = menos automóveis nas ruas …

Menos automóveis nas ruas = menos indústrias automotivas = menos consumo de petróleo e derivados = menos dinheiro nas mão de poucos = mais dinheiro para o desenvolvimento de alternativas ecomômicas sustentáveis para um mundo possível = menos automóveis nas ruas …

Menos automóveis nas ruas = mais bicicletas = mais saúde/menos doenças = mais sorrisos = mais contato humano = mais dinheiro no bolso = mais lazer = mais tempo livre = memos automóveis nas ruas …

Essas fórmulas parecem ingênuas? Sim parecem! Mas, não custa nada tentar, visto que aquelas antigas e decadentes criadas por banqueiros, economistas, sistemas religiosos e fraudários estão deixando países inteiros na bancarrota, como já se sabe. Basta olhar para o que está acontecendo nesse segundo em diversos países do globo!

Comecemos então pela bicileta e deixemos o efeito dominó acontecer!

Bike sign in the streets of Lisbon, Portugal

* Em 2006, a China produziu perto de 40% / 4.1 milhoes de unidades de automoveis. A China se tornou o segundo maior do mercado de autmoveis em 2010.

Preparing for Mestre João Grande’s arrival – Part 1 Sharing our experience:

alex — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:09:47 +0000

M. João Grande's Capoeira Angola Center in Manhatan, NY

Mestre João Grande was born on Jan. 15, 1933 in Itagi in the South of Bahia. He stated Capoeira in Salvador in his 20s under Mestre Pastinha. His most famos companion from that time was Joao Pequeno. In 1966 João Grande travelled to Senegal with Mestre Pastinha to demonstrate capoeira at the 1st International festival of Black Arts in Dakar. He was awarded his Diploma of Capoeira from Pastinha in 1968 making him a full- fledged master of Capoeira.

After the death of Mestre Pastinha Joao Grande was less acttive in Cpaoeira but then returned to Capoeira in colaboration with the Grupo Capoeira Angola Pelorinho (GCAP). He then move to the US and has been there since the 1990 establishing his own academy in NY.

Mestre João Grande has taught thousands of students at his academy. He has travelled Europe, Brazil, Japan and many parts of the US to teach and perform. In 1995 he received a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Upsala College, East Orange, NJ. In 2001 he was awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been in many films and documentaries not least about his move to the US entitled Mandinga in Manhattan.

We would like to open this space for people to comment on thier experiences of interacting, being taught and recieivng guidence from Joao Grande as a means to share our collective experience in advance of his arrival.

Preparing for Joao Grande’s arrival – Part 1 Sharing our experience:

My trip to Mestre Joao Grande’s House of Capoeira Angola

My first encounter with Mestre Joao Grande came in 1998 when i attended an International Conference of Capoeira Angola hosted by Mestre Cobra Mansa in Washington DC.
This once in a lifetime opportunity offered the chance to meet both of Mestre Pastinha’s closest and ‘favourite’ deciples, Mestre Joao Grande and Mestre Joao Pequeno. At the time, we had no Mestres here in London (Mestre Carlao had been here but had returned to Brazil) and it was a bit like a desert for lack of Capoeira Angola. Attempting to learn about this beautiful artform required some sort socio-cultural anthropological expedition! This trip to Washington was as simple as getting a ticket to the other end of the rainbow, where i would be guaranteed to find the pot of Capoeira Angola gold. And that i did! That journey was my first of several very influencial Capoeira trips which changed my vision and path forever.
To be in the presence of both M Joao Grande and M Joao Pequeno (not to mention M Cobra Mansa, M Jurandir, and M Valmir (Contra Mestre at the time) was positively the next closest thing to being with Mestre Pastinha himself, right at the true root of the Capoeira Angola tree. Whilst there, it became apparent that Capoeira is not just about movement and/or music… that even with those tangible elements, it holds something more profound and maybe even magical. To watch the older Mestres expressing their Capoeira almost entirely through mandinga and malendragem made this seem very obvious to me.
With a huge appetite for more, following the event in DC, my journey took me north to New York City and to Mestre Joao Grande’s own Academy in the heart of Manhattan.
Wow! What an emporium of Capoeira! Just entering that space is like having a bath in the freshest spring water from the source well of Capoeira Angola. It was there in M Joao Grande’s ‘House’ that i learned truly how much Capoeira Angola was in itself a complete artform, a culture and a way of life. With the shrine to Mestre Pastinha, complete with pictures, flowers, candles and the entire place adourned with the imagery, paintings and musical instruments of Capoeira, as well as lots of beautiful lush plants.
Arriving on Sunday for the day’s weekly special ritual of training and roda, gave me a strong sense of being immersed in the ‘Igreja da Mandinga’. The morning’s training started at 10am. I had cycled the 100 odd blocks south through Manhattan (from my Hostel) that morning like a rocket ship in order to make the start time!
The training was low, slow, hard and steady. The negativas could never be too low, Mestre sweeping the air with the berimbau to ensure we all complied with the required lowness of these fundaments.
At noon we broke for lunch and went mob-handed into the streets to consume some delicious home-cooked Colombian food before returning for the afternoon’s proceedings. From 2 to7 pm, there was only one thing on the agenda… RODA! Five hours of delicious soul-food Capoeira Angola with a constant flowing exchange of games, corridos, toques and the occassional fresh start with a new ladainha.
People came dressed for the occassion. Some wore leather shoes, sharp hats and collared shirts, almost ‘suited and booted’. Mestre continually refreshed the layer of talcum powder on the floor to keep the games flowing, slidy and low to the ground.
I remember some rules which seemed positively engrained… never change the corrido in the middle of the flow of a game… always stop at the pe do berimbau to retie shoe laces and retuck shirts as soon as they become loose… and always keep your legs uncrossed to maintain the constant and steady flow of positive shared energy.
At once, my opportunity came to sing a corrido in the roda, I seized the moment and sang ‘Maria do Camboata’ whilst two Angoleiras enjoyed their game.
“Dona Maria do Camboata, ela chega na roda e dá salto morta…” I sang, but there was a sharp, loud, “TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP, TAP!” as Mestre tapped his vaquetta agains his cabaca whilst shaking his head.
“What’s the problem”, I wondered?
“I’m sure i learned this lyric correctly”, I thought.
My neighbour on the atabaque then leaned over to me and explained simply, “Mestre doesn’t sing that lyric”. And that was that. Another minor but important detail to add to the infinity of nuances of Capoeira culture.
I came away from my visit to Mestre Joao Grande’s Academy feeling a certain completeness, a confidence and security in my identity as an Angoleiro. It served as a personal validation of my own efforts, time and contribution and gave me the strength in knowledge that i was very much a part of Capoeira and it a strong part of me.
The unanswered questions were not necessarily answered but then again Capoeira is not a science with equations, formulas and strict conclusive solutions. Mestre in his Academy is not a Scientist in his laboratory nor a Lecturer in the classroom. Instead, he is more like a Grand father figure (or Great-Grand Father perhaps), one of the wisest and most respected in the family, sharing his art, and welcoming all who really want to learn about and be a part of this beautiful culture.

by Austin Emery, Jun 2011

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Share your experience with Master João Grande by publishing your story in this blog:

Kabula Digest with Mestre João Grande :: Every week more highlights about the Conference!!

alex — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:23:25 +0000

M. João Grande's interview

Hi Everyone,

From this week the beginning of July we will be posting informations about Mestre João Grande and Mestre Gato for the those ones which are courious to know more about them as they are coming soon to the Movement for CHange :: The Capoeiragem Conference 2011 in London, July the 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Enjoy!

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Mestre João Grande’s Interview:

Interview part 1
Interview part 2
Interview part 3
Interview part 4
Interview part 5
Interview part 6
Interview part 7
Interview part 8
Interview part 9

Some of M. João Grande memorable games :: Alguns jogos memoráveis de Mestre João Grande

M. João Grande plays M. Cúrio, 1968

M. Cobrinha Verde plays M. João Grande, 1968

M. João João Pequeno plays M. João Grande, 1968

M. João Grande plays M. João pequeno, 1986

M. João Grande plays Boca Rica, GCAP 1997

The Angolan Roots of Capoeira. Transatlantic Links of a Globalized Performing Art @ Movement for Change :: The Capoeiragem Conference 2011

alex — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:23:45 +0000

N'Golo :: by Albano Neves e Sousa

1/07/11 - From 7pm till 8pm (as part of the Movement for Change :: The capoeiragem Conference 2011)

. for the full Event program click in here

The Angolan Roots of Capoeira. Presentation of a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Lecture by Dr Matthias Röhrig Assunção (University of Essex)

The Angolan Roots of Capoeira. Transatlantic Links of a Globalized Performing Art.

Our AHRC-funded research project explores several traditions in southern Angola, a region often identified as providing the ‘roots’ of capoeira because of the existence of instruments and movements similar to capoeira. There are several combat games, which use alternatively kicks, hands, sticks and other weapons, techniques that are also present in historical capoeira styles. The project explores the music and lyrics that accompany these performances, and related dances and rituals practiced in some villages belonging to different ethnic groups in that region.

The three-year project has started in June 2010, based on a preliminary exploration of the area in 2006. A second field trip in Angola has been carried out in 2010 by an interdisciplinary team of historian Dr Matthias Röhrig Assunção (principal investigator, University of Essex), Capoeira angola Mestre Cobra Mansa (International Capoeira Angola Foundation -FICA), ethno musicologist Dr Christine Dettmann (University of Essex) and the Namibian filmmaker Richard Pakleppa (Online productions). Ethnographic fieldwork is further backed up by the specialist of Angolan history, Dr Mariana Candido (Princeton University), who explores historical documents in archives in Angola and Portugal. The collected data is used for the production of a documentary and scholarly analysis to be published in academic and non-academic journals.

The project assesses the extent of continuities, and borrowing, but also of ruptures, changes and re-inventions in order to understand the ‘creolization’ process through which different African traditions merged and developed into something new, original and global. Moreover, the project has employed fieldwork methods which involve people in a transcultural dialogue. For instance, performers in Angola have reacted in uniquely illuminating ways when faced with instruments, movements and music that are linked to their own traditions.

For more information, including downloads of publications and an interview broadcasted by Radio Nacional (Luanda), go to:

http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/research/Angolan_Roots/about.aspx

Kabula Digest :: Capoeira Angola Roda 1960!

alex — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:01:16 +0000

Capoeira Angola game 1960

Short film documentary (click bellow to watch it)

Bahia
Voyage sans passeport – 09/01/1960 – 12min46s
Discover the North Atlantic coast of Brazil from the port and authentic living in Salvador de Bahia, through the heavenly beaches of the region of Pernambuco, where dancers compete capoeira, surf rafts “raft”, and ended in Fortaleza area and attend a traditional collective fishing scene, with the rhythm of a traditional song.

Production
producteur ou co-producteur:
Office national de radiodiffusion télévision française

Kabula-Digest :: One more dissertation about Besouro Preto

alex — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 12:35:01 +0000

Here we go with one more academic work about maybe the most famous capoeiristas at all times. His story have been told in popular literature, academic works, films, theatre …

This is the last one we have notice. Enjoy the reading and please keep us informed about new capoeira productions.

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Referential info:

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Estudo de Linguagens
Jonalva Santiago da Silva

Clich on the title to access the text:

“Do cordel a narrativa Biográfica
A invenção de Besuro, o herói de corpo fechado” *

Salvador – BA Brazil
2010

*Note that it’s written in Portuguese

Great great Grandaddy João Grande :: Ann’s message from N.Y.

alex — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 01:48:20 +0000

From the left to the right: Ann, Márcio, Matthias, Toca ...

Dear all at Kabula,

Firstly I miss you guys and secondly for the last three weeks I have been in New York on Holiday, as Robi, my husband is working here. As well as seeing the sights, eating, drinking, partying and enjoying many artistic delights on offer in this great city I have been spending much of my time training at the Capoeira Angola Centre in Manhattan, home of Mestre Joao Grande the great great Grandaddy of Capoeira Angola. Of course at first I viewed him as a God and feel very lucky to be taught by the master of our masters masters master, but what separates him from God is that he is not a man to be feared. Rather a man to learn from with ease – I think it runs in the family! He makes learning a joy and something to be shared. For example, today I was at a Roda that lasted 4 and a half hours long and the last hour was spent with one guy playing continuously with all of us that were at the Roda. This was a gift for him as it was his last day – he is flying back to his home Japan. At the end of the games Mestre gave him a sequence to take back to Japan with him. The guy repeated this sequence a minimum of 15 times! The whole point of this was so that he could teach it to his group in Japan. To me this generosity, enthusiasm and love for Capoeira Angola and the sharing of it is at the core of what has made my learning experience here and at home such a great one. It is great to know that even in another part of the world with complete strangers the tradition and love continues. I have been asking people here how long have you been training for? and the response is always “not long.” It suddenly dawned on me today that not long can mean 1, 5, 10, or even 50 years. They say this because they are always learning. And a strong principle is that this learning is shared with others. So… the journey continues from Africa to Bahia to New York, Japan, London and wherever else. I hope you will join me in giving thanks to our masters who’s teachings can help us transcend boundaries, whether imagined or real.

Oh and a new thing I learnt here, that I am sure many of you know, is that when we lower the berimbau at the beginning and end of a game we are doing it for our past masters. Many thanks to them too.

See you all in London guys,

Ann

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Oh and a new thing I learnt here, that I am sure many of you know, is that when we lower the berimbau at the beginning and end of a game we are doing it for our past masters. Many thanks to them too.

See you all in London guys,

Ann

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Before Ann Ogbomo left London, I explained that were she to train with M. Joao Grande in New York she would be learning from the Master of the master who tought my the 3 masters who tought me.

M. Carlão

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See bellow a simplyfied cut of Kabula capoeira genealogy. Note that it’s showing a very reduced vertion of the “Capoeira Angola Tree” as there much more people which have been tought by Mestres João Grande, Moraes, Marco Aurélio, José Carlos and Armando:

M. Jõao Grande > M. Pedro Moraes Trindade > M. Marco Aurélio, M. José Carlos and M. Armando > M. Carlão