Capoeira or the Dance of War by Johann Moritz Rugendas, 1825, published in 1835 |
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| Focus | Kicking,Punching,Slapping,Headbutting,Acrobatics,Leg Sweeps,Knee/Elbow Strikes, Takedowns |
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| Country of origin | Brazil (came from Africa) |
| Creator | African Slaves in Brazil |
| Famous practitioners | Manuel dos Reis Machado (Mestre Bimba) Vicente Ferreira Pastinha João Grande João Pereira dos Santos (Mestre João Pequeno) Reinaldo Ramos Suassuna Bira Almeida (Mestre Acordeon) José Tadeu Carneiro Cardoso (Mestre Camisa) Lateef Crowder Anderson Silva John Morrison (wrestler) Wesley Snipes Vincent Cassel |
Capoeira (Portuguese pronunciation: [kapuˈejɾɐ]) is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences , probably beginning in the 16th century. It is known by quick and complex moves,using mainly power,speed,and leverage for leg sweeps
The word capoeira probably comes from Tupi, referring to the areas of low vegetation in the Brazilian interior.
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Capoeira's history is the history of slavery in Brazil. Since the 16th century, Portugal extensively adopted slavery to man their colonies, coming mainly from West and Central Africa. Brazil, with its vast territory, was the major destination of African slaves, receiving 38.5% of all slaves sent by ships across the Atlantic Ocean.
Capoeira has a long and controversial history, since historical documentation in Brazil was very scarce in its colonial times. Evidences, studies and oral tradition leave little doubt about its origins.
In the 16th century Portugal had one of the biggest colonial empires of the world, but it lacked people to actually colonize it. In the Brazilian colony the Portuguese, like many other European colonists, opted to use slavery to supply this shortage of workers. Colonists tried to enslave Brazilian natives in the beginning, but this quickly proved too difficult for many reasons, including the familiarity natives had with the land. The solution was importing slaves from Africa. [1]
In its first century the main economic activity in the colony was the production and processing of sugarcane. Portuguese colonists used to create large sugarcane farms called engenhos, farms which extensively used enslaved workers. Slaves, living in inhumane and humiliating conditions, were forced to work hard and often suffered physical punishment for any small misbehaviour.[1] Even though slaves outnumbered the Portuguese colonists, the lack of weapons, the colonial law, the disagreement among slaves coming from different African cultures and their complete lack of knowledge about the land and its surroundings would usually discourage the idea of a rebellion.
In this environment Capoeira began to develop. More than a fighting style, it was created as a hope of survival, a tool with which an escaped slave, completely unequipped, could survive in the hostile, unknown land and face the hunt of the capitães-do-mato, colonial agents in charge of finding escapees, always armed and mounted.
Soon several groups of African slaves would gather and establish Quilombos, primitive settlements in far and hard to reach places. After its humble start, some quilombos would develop, attracting more runaway slaves, Brazilian natives and even Europeans escaping the law or catholic extremism. Sometimes a quilombo would become a real independent multi-ethnic state.[2]
Everyday life in a quilombo would offer freedom and the opportunity to rescue traditional cultures lost due to colonial oppression.[2] In this kind of multi-ethnic community, constantly threatened by Portuguese colonial troops, Capoeira evolved from a survival tool to a martial art focused on war.
The biggest of the quilombos, the Quilombo dos Palmares, consisted of many villages mostly of African slaves though they also consisted of other ethnicities and lasted for more than a century, resisting, often outnumbered, many colonial attacks. This quilombo resisted at least 24 small attacks and 18 great colonial invasions. Portuguese soldiers sometimes stated it took more than one dragoon to capture a quilombo warrior, since they would defend themselves with a strangely moving fighting technique. The governor from that province declared "it is harder to defeat a quilombo than the Dutch invaders."[2]
Things in the colony began to change when the prince and future king Dom João VI, along with the whole Portuguese court, escaped to Brazil in 1808 due to Portugal being invaded by Napoleonic troops. The colony, a mere source of natural resources, would finally begin to develop as a nation.[3] The Portuguese monopoly effectively came to an end when Brazilian ports opened for trade with foreign nations.[4] Cities would grow in importance and Brazilian people could finally get the permission to manufacture common products once imported from Portugal, like glass.[3]
Registries of Capoeira test practices existed since the 18th century in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife, but the huge increase of urban slaves and social life in Brazilian cities gave Capoeira a greater notoriety and diffusion capacity. In Rio the use of Capoeira was getting so problematic that the colonial government established severe physical punishments to its practice.[5] In his book, Matthias Röhrig Assunção provided ample data from police records, dating back to the 1800s, demonstrating that Capoeira was an important reason to detain slaves and free coloured individuals. "From 288 slaves that entered the Calabouço jail during the years 1857 and 1858, 80 (31%) were arrested for Capoeira, and only 28 (10.7%) for running away. Out of 4,303 arrests in Rio police jail in 1862, 404 detainees—nearly 10%—had been arrested for Capoeira." [6]
At the end of the 19th century, slavery in the Brazilian Empire was already doomed for many reasons, among them the ever increasing number of slave's escapes and the frequent raids by quilombo militias on properties which still adopted slavery. The Empire tried to soften the problems with laws that would restrict slavery, but Brazil would inevitably recognize its end on May 13, 1888, with a law called Lei Áurea, sanctioned by imperial parliament and signed by princess Isabel.
Free, "black people" would soon find themselves abandoned. A vast majority had nowhere to live, no job and were despised by Brazilian society, which usually saw them as lazy workers.[7][8] The increase of European and Asian workers of that time would diminish job opportunities even more and many black people would become marginalized. Naturally, they maintained Capoeira as a means of recreation and martial arts practice.[8][9]
It was inevitable that Capoeira practitioners would start using their abilities in unconventional ways. Many began to use Capoeiristas as body guards, mercenaries, hitmen, henchmen. Groups of Capoeira practitioners, known as maltas, used to terrorize Rio de Janeiro. In little time, in 1890, the recently proclaimed Brazilian Republic decreed the prohibition of Capoeira in the whole country,[10] as things were pretty chaotic in the Brazilian capital and many police reports would demonstrate that Capoeira was an undeserved advantage in a fight.[9]
After the prohibition, any citizen caught practicing Capoeira, in a fight or for any other reason, would be arrested, tortured and often mutilated by the police. The art of Capoeira, after brief freedom, was once again condemned and repressed. Cultural practices, like the roda de Capoeira, were conducted in far or hidden places and often practitioners would leave someone as sentry, to warn if the police was approaching the area.
In 1932, a time when Capoeira repression wasn't as strong as before, Mestre Bimba, a strong fighter both in legal and illegal fights, founded in Salvador the first ever Capoeira school. Bimba, analyzing the way many capoeiristas were using their abilities only to impress tourists, believed that Capoeira was losing its efficiency as a martial art. Thus Bimba, helped by his student José Cisnando Lima, intent on returning Capoiera to a method similar how it was used by the Quilombos, Mestre Bimba was intent on making it more combat-focused, and added some moves from traditional fighting styles, like Batuque and to a very limited extent wrestling. Bimba also developed the first Capoeira systematical training method. As the word Capoeira was still forbidden by Brazilian law, Bimba called his new style Luta Regional Baiana (meaning regional fight from Bahia).[11]
In 1937, Bimba founded the school Centro de Cultura Física e Luta Regional, with official permission of Salvador’s Secretary of Education (Secretaria da Educação, Saúde e Assistência de Salvador). His work was very well accepted in Salvador and Bimba got the opportunity to teach Capoeira to the elite of the city.[11] Finally in 1940 Capoeira left the Brazilian law code and definitely left illegality.
Soon the notoriety of Bimba's Capoeira proved to be a problem to traditional capoeiristas, who were gradually losing visibility and were still distrusted by society. This imbalance began to change with the founding of Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA), in 1941, by Vicente Ferreira Pastinha. Located in the neighbourhood of Pelourinho, in Salvador, this school attracted many traditional capoeiristas who would prefer to keep Capoeira as original as possible. CECA's notoriety immortalized the name Capoeira Angola as definition of the traditional Capoeira style. The term wasn't new, as during the 19th century Capoeira was in some places referred as brincar de angola (meaning play Angola) and many other masters which did not use Pastinha's techniques adopted it.[12]
Capoeira nowadays is not only a martial art or a small aspect of Brazilian society, but an active exporter of Brazilian culture all over the world. Since the 1970s masters of the art form began to emigrate and teach capoeira in other countries. Present in many countries in every continent, every year Capoeira attracts to Brazil thousands of foreign students and, often, foreign capoeiristas work hard to learn the official Brazilian language, Portuguese, in an effort to better understand and become part of the art. Renowned Capoeira Masters are often invited to teach abroad or even establish their own schools. Capoeira presentations, normally theatrical, acrobatic and with little martiality, are common sights in the whole world.
The martial art aspect is still present and, like old times, is still subtle and disguised, leading many non-practitioners to ignore its presence. Trickery is ever present and expert capoeiristas seldom take their sights off their opponents in a Capoeira game. An attack can be disguised even as a friendly gesture. Such trickery amongst a collection of others are all a form of malicia which is used by both Capoiera Regional and Angola.
Symbol of the afro-Brazilian culture, symbol of the ethnic amalgam that characterizes Brazil, symbol of resistance to the oppression, Capoeira definitely changed its image and became a source of pride to Brazilian people. It is officially considered intangible cultural heritage of Brazil.
Capoeira is a fast and versatile martial art which is historically focused on fighting outnumbered or in technological disadvantage.
The ginga (literally: rocking back and forth; to swing) is the fundamental movement in capoeira, important both for attack and defense purposes. It has two main objectives. One is to keep the capoeirista in a state of constant motion, preventing him from being a still and easy target. The other, using also fakes and feints, is to mislead, fool, trick the opponent, leaving them open for an attack or a counter-attack.
The attacks in the Capoeira should be done when opportunity arises and must be decisive, like a direct kick in the face or a vital body part, or a strong takedown. Most Capoeira attacks are made with the legs, like direct or swirling kicks, rasteiras (leg sweeps), tesouras or knee strikes. The head strike is a very important counter-attack move. Elbow strikes, punches and other forms of takedowns complete the main list.
The defense is based on the principle of non-resistance, meaning avoid an attack using evasive moves instead of blocking it. Avoids are called esquivas, which depend on the direction of the attack and intention of the defender, and can be done standing or with a hand leaning on the floor. A block should only be made when the esquiva is not possible. This fighting strategy allows quick and unpredictable counter attacks, the ability to focus on more than one adversary and to face empty-handed an armed adversary.
A series of rolls and acrobatics (like the Cartwheels called aú) allows the capoeirista to quickly overcome a takedown or a loss of balance, and to position themselves around the aggressor in order to lay up for an attack. It is this combination of attacks and defense which gives Capoeira its perceived 'fluidity' and choreography-like style.
Playing Capoeira is both a game and a method of practicing the application of Capoeira movements in dangerous situations. It can be played anywhere, but it's usually done in a roda. During the game most Capoeira moves are used, but capoeiristas usually avoid using punches or elbow strikes.
The game usually does not focus on knocking down or destroying the opponent, rather it emphasizes skill. Capoeiristas often prefer to rely on a takedown like a rasteira, then allowing the opponent to recover and get back into the game. It is also very common to slow down a kick inches before hitting the target, so a capoeirista can enforce superiority without the need of injuring the opponent. If an opponent clearly cannot dodge an attack, there is no reason to complete it. However, between two high-skilled capoeiristas, the game can get much more aggressive and dangerous, even though capoeiristas tend to avoid showing this kind of game in presentations or to the general public.
The Roda (pronounced HOH-dah) is a circle formed by capoeiristas and capoeira musical instruments, where every participant sings the typical songs and claps their hands following the music. Two capoeiristas enter the roda and play the game according to the style required by the musical instruments rhythm. The game finishes when one of the musicians holding a berimbau determine it, when one of the capoeiristas decide to leave or call the end of the game or when another capoeirista interrupts the game to start playing, either with one of the current players or with another capoeirista.
In a roda every cultural aspect of Capoeira is present, not only the martial side. Aerial acrobatics are common in a presentation roda, while not seen as often in a more serious one.
The batizado (baptism) is a ceremonial roda where new students will get recognized as capoeiristas and earn their first graduation. Also more experienced students may go up in rank, depending on their skills and capoeira culture.
Students enter the roda against a high-ranked capoeirista (a teacher or master) and normally the game ends with the student being taken down. However, the more experienced capoeirista can judge the takedown unnecessary. Following this 'baptism' the new cord is given.
Traditionally, the batizado is the moment when the new practitioner gets or formalizes his or her apelido (literally nickname). This tradition was created back when Capoeira practice was considered a crime. To avoid having problems with the law, capoeiristas would present themselves in the capoeira community only by their nicknames. So if a capoeirista was captured by the police, he would be unable to identify his fellow capoeiristas, even when tortured.
Apelidos can come from many different things. A physical characteristic (like being tall or big), a habit (like smiling or drinking too much), place of birth, a particular skill, an animal, trivial things, anything.
Nowadays, even though apelidos are not necessary anymore, the tradition is still very alive not only in Capoeira but in many aspects of Brazilian culture.
Chamada means 'call' and can happen at any time during a roda where the rhythm angola is being played. It happens when one player, usually the more advanced one, calls his or her opponent to a dance-like ritual. The opponent then approaches the caller and meets him or her to walk side by side. After it both resume normal play.
While it may seem like a break time or a dance, the chamada is actually both a trap and a test, as the caller is just expecting to see if the opponent will let his guard down so he can perform a takedown or a strike. It is a critical situation, because both players are vulnerable due to the close proximity and potential for a surprise attack. It's also a tool for experienced practitioners and masters of the art to test a student's awareness and demonstrate when the student left himself open to attack.
The use of the chamada can result in a highly developed sense of awareness and helps practitioners learn the subtleties of anticipating another person's hidden intentions. The chamada can be very simple, consisting solely of the basic elements, or the ritual can be quite elaborate including a competitive dialogue of trickery, or even theatric embellishments.
Volta ao mundo means around the world.
The volta ao mundo takes place after an exchange of movements has reached a conclusion, or after there has been a disruption in the harmony of the game. In either of these situations, one player will begin walking around the perimeter of the circle counter-clockwise, and the other player will join the volta ao mundo before returning to the normal game.
Malandragem is a word that comes from malandro, which means a person who possesses cunning as well as malicia, which translates to "malice". This, however, is misleading as the meaning of malicia in Capoeira is the capacity to understand someone's intentions. In Brazil men who were marginalized from main stream society and possessed street smarts were called malandros.
In the Capoeira, malandragem is the ability to quickly understand an opponent's aggressive intentions, and during a fight or a game, fool, trick and deceive him.
Music is integral to Capoeira. It sets the tempo and style of game that is to be played within the roda. The music is composed of instruments and song. Rhythm, controlled by a berimbau, differ from very slow to very fast, depending on the style of the roda.
Capoeira instruments are disposed in a row called bateria. It is traditionally formed by three berimbaus, two pandeiros, one atabaque, one agogô and one ganzá, but this format may vary depending on the Capoeira group's traditions or the roda style.
The berimbau is the leading instrument, determining the tempo and style of the music and game played. Two low pitch berimbaus (called berra-boi and médio) form the base and a high pitch berimbau (called viola) makes variations and improvisations. The other instruments may only follow the berimbaus or may be free to vary and improvise a little, depending upon the Capoeira group's musical style.
Capoeiristas change their playing style significantly, following the toque of the berimbau, which sets the game's speed, style and aggressiveness. So it is truly the music that drives a Capoeira game.
Many of the songs are sung in a call and response format while others are in the form of a narrative. Capoeiristas sing about a wide variety of subjects. Some songs are about history or stories of famous capoeiristas. Other songs attempt to inspire players to play better. Some songs are about what is going on within the roda. Sometimes the songs are about life or love lost. Others have lighthearted and playful lyrics.
There are four basic kinds of songs in capoeira, the Ladaínha, Chula, Corrido and Quadra. The Ladaínha is a narrative solo sung only at the beginning of a roda, often by a mestre (master) or most respected capoeirista present. The solo is followed by a louvação, a call and response pattern that usually thanks God and one's mestre, among other things. Each call is usually repeated word-for-word by the responders. The Chula is a song where the singer part is much bigger than the chorus response, usually eight singer verses for one chorus response, but the proportion may vary. The Corrido is a song where the singer part and the chorus response are equal, normally two verses by two responses. Finally, the Quadra is a song where the same verse is repeated four times, either three singer verses followed by one chorus response, or one verse and one response.
Capoeira songs can talk about virtually anything, being it about a historical fact, a famous capoeirista, trivial life facts, hidden messages for players, anything. Improvisation is very important also, while singing a song the main singer can change the music's lyrics, telling something that's happening in or outside the Roda.
Determining styles in capoeira is a very tough task, since there was never a unity in the original capoeira, or a teaching method before the decade of 1920. However, a division between two styles and a sub-style is widely accepted.
Capoeira Angola refers to every capoeira that keeps the traditions held before the creation of the Regional style.
Existing in many parts of Brazil since colonial times, most notably in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife, it's impossible to tell where and when Capoeira Angola began taking its present form. The name "Angola" starts as early as the beginning of slavery in Brazil, when Africans, taken to Luanda to be shipped to Brazil, were called "black people from Angola" regardless of their nationality. In some places of Brazil people would call capoeira as playing Angola and, according to Mestre Noronha, the Centro de Capoeira Angola Conceição da Praia, created in Bahia, already used the name capoeira Angola illegally in the beginning of the 1920 decade.[12]
The name Angola was finally immortalized by Mestre Pastinha at February 23, 1941, when he opened the Centro Esportivo de capoeira Angola (CECA). Pastinha was known as a great defender of the traditional Capoeira, much respected by recognized Capoeira masters. Soon many other masters would adopt the name Angola.
Capoeira Angola is the closest style to the way slaves used to fight or play Capoeira. Characterizes by being strategic, with sneaking movements executed standing or near the floor depending on the situation to face, it values the traditions of malícia, malandragem and unpredictability of the original Capoeira.
Typical music instrument formation in a roda of Capoeira Angola is three berimbaus, two pandeiros, an atabaque, an agogô e a ganzuá.
Capoeira Angola developed alongside Regional, but with a traditionalist and contrary dogma. It’s primary representative, Mestre Pastinha, “found in the old tradition (of capoeira) some concepts which he made fundamental.” Unlike Bimba, he was against using physical movements foreign to capoeira. The ludic aspects of the game rather than the martial are emphasised along with the use of traditional movements, songs, philosophy and conduct of the ritual of capoeira, all done with respect to the fundamental concepts emphasised by Mestre Pastinha.
Capoeira Regional began to take form in the 1920 decade, when Mestre Bimba met his future student, José Cisnando Lima. Both believed that Capoeira was losing its martial side and concluded there was a need to restructure it. Bimba created his sequências de ensino (teaching combinations) and created the first Capoeira's teaching method. Advised by Cisnando, Bimba decided to call his style Luta Regional Baiana, as Capoeira was still illegal at that time.
The base of Capoeira Regional is the original Capoeira without many of the aspects that were useless in a real fight, with less subterfuge and more objectivity. Training was mainly focused on attack and counter-attack, giving high importance to precision and discipline. Bimba also added a few moves from other martial-arts, notably the batuque, old street fight practiced by his father. Use of jumps or aerial acrobacies was kept to a minimum, since one of its foundations was always keeping at least one hand or foot firmly attached to the ground. Mestre Bimba often said, "'The floor is a friend to the capoeirista'".
Capoeira Regional also introducted the first ranking method in Capoeira. Regional had three levels: calouro (freshman), formado (graduated) and formado especializado (specialist). Ranking was determined by a scarf tied on the capoeirista's waist.
The traditions of roda and Capoeira game were kept, being used to put into use what was learned during training. Musical instruments disposition, however, was changed, being made by a single berimbau and two pandeiros.
The Luta Regional Baiana soon became popular, finally changing Capoeira's bad image. Mestre Bimba made a lot of presentations of his new style, but the most well known was the one made at 1953 to Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas, where the president would say: "Capoeira is the only truly national sport."
Contemporânea is a term for groups that train multiple styles of capoeira simultaneously. Very often students of Capoeira Contemporânea train elements of Regional and Angola as well as newer movements that would not fall under either of those styles. This sub-style is seen by some as the natural evolution of Capoeira, by others as adulteration or even misinterpretation of Capoeira.
Nowadays the label Contemporânea applies to any Capoeira group who don't follow Regional or Angola styles, even the ones who mix Capoeira with other martial-arts.
Because of its origin, Capoeira never had unity or a general agreement. Ranking or graduating system follows the same path, as there never existed a ranking system accepted by most of the masters. That means graduation style varies depending of the group's traditions.
The most common modern system uses colored cordas (cord or rope) tied around the waist (also called cordéis or cordões). Some masters use different systems, or even no system at all.
There are many entities (leagues, federations and association) which have tried to unify the cord system. The most usual is the system of the Confederação Brasileira de Capoeira (Brazilian Capoeira Confederation), which adopts strings using the colors of the Brazilian flag.
Even though it's widely used, with many small variations, many big and influential groups still use different systems. Even the Confederação Brasileira de Capoeira is not widely accepted as the Capoeira's representative.
Even though those activities are strongly associated to the Capoeira, they have different meanings and origins.
Performed by many capoeira groups, samba de roda is a traditional Afro-Brazilian dance & musical form that has been associated with capoeira for many years. The orchestra is composed by pandeiro (tambourine), atabaque (drum), berimbau-viola (berimbau with the smallest cabaça and the highest pitch), chocalho (rattle – a percussion instrument), accompanied by singing and clapping. Samba de roda is considered one of the primitive forms of modern Samba.
Originally the Maculelê was an indigenous armed fighting style, using two sticks or a machete. Nowadays it's a folkloric dance practiced with heavy afro-Brazilian percussion.
Maculelê's past is even more obscured than Capoeira's, so many people believe it either has native Brazilian's or African's origins.
Puxada de Rede is a Brazilian folkloric theatrical play, seen in many capoeira performances. It is based on a traditional Brazilian legend involving the loss of a fisherman in a sea-faring accident
Christie Monteiro and Eddy Gordo, two playable characters from the Tekken series, fight in the Capoeira style.
Elena, a playable character from the Street Fighter series, fights in the Capoeira style. Richard Meyer and Bob Wilson from the Fatal Fury series fight in the Capoeira style, and Richard Meyer is the first fighting game character to use Capoeira.
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