A plug for a worthy book

Fighting for Honor
The History of African Martial Arts Traditions in the Atlantic World
T. J. Desch Obi
A groundbreaking investigation into the migration of martial arts
techniques across continents and centuries
6 x 9, 376 pages, 45 illus.
cloth, $34.95s
ISBN 978-1-57003- 718-4
February
The Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World
David Gleeson, Simon Lewis, and W. Scott Poole, series editors

ABOUT THE BOOK
The presence of African influence and tradition in the Americas has
long been recognized in art, music, language, agriculture, and
religion. T. J. Desch Obi explores another cultural continuity that
is as old as eighteenth-century slave settlements in South America
and as contemporary as hip-hop culture. In this thorough survey of
the history of African martial arts techniques, Obi maps the
translation of numerous physical combat techniques across three
continents and several centuries to illustrate how these practices
evolved over time and are still recognizable in American culture
today. Some of these art traditions were part of African military
training while others were for self-defense and spiritual
discipline.
Grounded in historical and cultural anthropological methodologies,
Obi's investigation traces the influence of well-delineated African
traditions on long-observed but misunderstood African and African
American cultural activities in North America, Brazil, and the
Caribbean. He links the Brazilian martial art capoeira to reports of
slave activities recorded in colonial and antebellum North America.
Likewise Obi connects images of the kalenda African stick-fighting
techniques to the Haitian Revolution. Throughout the study Obi
examines the ties between physical mastery of these arts and
changing perceptions of honor. Including forty-five illustrations,
this rich history of the arrival and dissemination of African
martial arts in the Atlantic world offers a new vantage for
furthering our understanding of the powerful influence of enslaved
populations on our collective social history.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T. J. Desch Obi received his doctorate in African history from the
University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on
historical ethnography, which he explores through the lens of
African and African diaspora martial arts. He is currently an
assistant professor of African and African diaspora history at the
City University of New York's Baruch College.

Back to 1987 - Jumping ship (part 1)

It's taken a while to get to this point in my story, which was also a pivotal point in my life. I'm still dealing with the consequences and enjoying the benefits of my decision to stay in Brazil.

To recap, I was only planning to spend three months in Bahia, gathering preliminary information for a dissertation on the role of high priestesses (iyalorisas or maes de santo) in the non-Candomble community. I had enrolled in the UCLA Department of History's PhD program before I left. However, a number of things happened to me in Brazil: I felt at home in Bahia, which was and is very similar to Puerto Rico, where I'd grown up; I had no one to go back to in LA, except Lily, my Siamese cat; I had only enrolled in the PhD programme because I couldn't see any immediate option to the "perpetual student" route; I had become deeply and passionately involved in Capoeira Angola. Given these factors, living in Bahia seemed a viable and attractive alternative.

Also, people in Bahia kept telling me that I was just a tourist; only they knew the real hardships of life in Brazil and they would still have to face them when I was gone. It sounds silly to say that I took it as a "dare," but it's true. Still, I was seriously in doubt. Like the character in Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken," I stood at a fork in the road. I decided to consult the orishas through Mãe Stella de Oxossi (see photo above) of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá to help me choose the way forward.

Mãe Stella (or Odé Kayodé) has been the high priestess of one of the oldest and most prestigious Candomble temples, or terreiros, in Bahia, since 1976. She gives public readings on Wednesday mornings, the day that Shango receives offerings at his altar. Through the usual course of serendipity (the person I was staying with worked at a clinic with Mãe Stella's cousin) I managed to get the address of the temple and the date of the readings. I took a bus way out to the Cabula district and walked down a long sloping hill till I reached the wide gate and white walls that marked the entrance to the Ilê Axé compound.

A man with dreadlocks was being spiritually cleansed with bunches of leaves as I passed him and went into the reddish house where Mãe Stella gives the readings. I sat on one of the sofas in the waiting room and waited (I later found that "hurrying up and waiting" is very much a part of life in Candomblé). I had arrived relatively late - around 9 am - so there were plenty of people ahead of me. Finally, Mãe Stella herself came out of the shrine to take a break - I recognised her because I'd seen her at a conference in New York City the year before, and she was just as regal as ever. Seeming much taller than she actually is, she looked down at me and turned to her secretary, saying "She's the last one." So I waited more hopefully than ever.

After a while, the man with dreadlocks walked in (he turned out to be Lino Almeida, the DJ and activist who recently passed away at an absurdly young age). He came straight up to me. "You should leave," he said. "Mãe Stella is tired." "But she said she would see me," I implored. "She said I was the last one!" I was determined to stay because it might be my last chance to see her. He shrugged and walked away.

When I finally entered the shrine for my reading over an hour later, I was very nervous. Would my Portuguese be up to understanding everything that was said? My "doubting Thomas" side came to the fore - I wasn't going to provide any information that could be used in the reading, just my name and nationality. I left my shoes at the door and walked across to the table in the corner. Mãe Stella was sitting there, with a basket of cowries and beads before her. I settled into the chair across from hers and thanked her for seeing me. She looked at the cowries for a while, then asked if I had any questions.

I told her that I would only ask two - I realised she was very tired. "I'd like to know my orisha." She studied the cowries again, and said, "It looks like...yes, it's Oshun." She said it so tentatively that I wondered if she was in doubt, but then I realised that that was the answer. I had always thought my orisha would have something to do with water but assumed it would be Yemanja. I knew very little about Oshun, except that she is a river divinity. "Your name has everything to do with your orisha," the high priestess continued. I was named after a river nymph, the goddess of the Severn. How could she know that? Had she read Milton's Comus? I was very impressed.

All my life I have borne the name of my orisha - long before I knew the orishas existed. My "doubting Thomas" side was confounded. Furthermore, I was born near a lake, and have always preferred fresh water (lakes, rivers, waterfalls) to the sea. My favourite metals are gold and bronze and I prefer them to be set with brown topazes, cat's eyes and amber. Later, I read a Jungian theory that the orishas are part of the collective unconscious and that people unconsciously "adopt" the orisha that most closely fits their preferred avatar - the personality they secretly desire to emulate. I am living proof that this is hokum. How could I possibly have adopted the traits of a divinity I'd never seen and barely heard of - consciously or otherwise?

Then I asked the other big question: should I stay or should I go? After reading the cowry oracle once again, she said: "If you return to the United States, you may or may not come back to Bahia. But if you stay here, you will have everything you desire, though it will be a struggle followed by victory." I thanked her and, on my way out, mentioned my research project, asking if I could interview her some time. She said, "Don't call me, I'll call you." And that was that. I got the overwhelming feeling that she was tired of being studied, and that I would much rather be a part of Candomblé than study it.

My next assignment: buying contas - a necklace of amber-colored beads, the color of Oshun. Ore ye ye o!

Olóomi máà, olóomi máà iyó
Olóomi máà iyó ènyin ayaba odò (ìyáàgbà)
Ó yèyé ó.

International event at Capoeira Fort

The International Capoeira Festival began on Monday, August 20th, in Salvador, bringing together representatives of 36 countries. Here's the program (from the looks of it, it's mainly Regional, though Angoleiros are included):

Monday - 20/08

18h – Opening Cocktail Party

20h – Roda de Capoeira with foreign capoeiristas and guests
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Tuesday - 21/08

10h - Capoeira class with teachers from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Berimbau workshop
Samba de Roda workshop with Nalvinha Machado
Percussion workshop with Mestre Giba
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

12h - Lunch

14h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

15h30 - Break

16h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Jongo workshop with Professor Barbaro
Swing Baiano workshop with Prof. Zé Carlos
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

17h30 - Break

18h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo


19h45 - Break

20h - Round Table: Capoeira at the Fort, with Mestre Curió, Mestre João Pequeno, Mestre Boca Rica, Mestre Moraes and Mestre Nenéu. Mediator: José Augusto Leal (superintendent of the Fort)
Exhibition by the new generation of Capoeira Angola
Screening of a movie titled "Mudança do Clima, Mudanças de Vida" (Changing Climates, Changing Lives) by Greenpeace. How global warming is already affecting Brazil.

Wednesday - 22/08

10h - Capoeira class with Abadá teachers
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Berimbau Workshop
Samba de Roda Workshop with Nalvinha Machado
Jongo Workshop with Professor Barbaro
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

12h - Lunch

14h - Capoeira class with mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

15h30 - Break

16h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Percussion workshop with Mestre Giba
Swing Baiano workshop with Prof. Zé Carlos
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

17h30 - Break

18h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

19h45 - Break

20h - Round Table: Capoeira in Bahia, with:
Mestre Medicina - Capoeira in rural Bahia
Mestre Geni - Capoeira in Salvador
Mestre Saci - Capoeira in the University
Mestre Lua Rasta - Street Art Capoeira
Mestre Gil Alfinete - Capoeira Angola
Mestre Boa Gente - Capoeira in the communities
Mestre Nenel - Capoeira Regional
Mediator: Mestre Camisa

Exhibition by new generation of Capoeira Regional
Screening of a movie titled "Mudança do Clima, Mudanças de Vida" (Changing Climates, Changing Lives) by Greenpeace. How global warming is already affecting Brazil.
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Thursday - 23/08

10h - Capoeira class with teachers from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Berimbau Workshop
Percussion Workshop with Mestre Giba
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

12h - Lunch

14h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

15h30 - Break

16h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Samba de Roda Workshop with Nalvinha Machado
Jongo Workshop with Professor Barbaro
Venue: Pelourinho plazas

17h30 - Break

18h - Capoeira class with mestres and aspiring mestres from Abadá
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

19h45 - Break

20h - 6th World Capoeira Games - "Peneirão" (semi-finals) - Rodas
Venue: Antônio Balbino Gym

20h - Round Table: Capoeira around the world with: Grão-Mestre Camisa Roxa, Mestranda Márcia Cigarra, Mestre Acordeón, Mestre Jelon, Mestranda Edna Lima and teachers from outside Brazil. Mediator: Bernardo Conde

Launch of CD "Homenagem a Mestre Bimba e Mestre Pastinha"
Exhibition by "Old Guard" of Capoeira Regional and Capoeira Angola
Screening of a movie titled "Mudança do Clima, Mudanças de Vida" (Changing Climates, Changing Lives) by Greenpeace. How global warming is already affecting Brazil.
Venue: Forte da Capoeira Santo Antônio Além do Carmo

Friday - 24/08

8h - March from Lapinha to the Mestre Bimba School in Terreiro de Jesus plaza

12h - Lunch

14h - 6th World Capoeira Games - Eliminatory bouts
Venue: Ginásio Antônio Balbino

Saturday - 25/08

9h - Batizado, Troca de Cordas and Graduation
Show by "Old Guard of Bahia," Green Capoeira

12 - Lunch

14h - 6th World Capoeira Games

Folk Festival
Shows: Capoeira Especial and Orquestra de Berimbaus
Venue: Antônio Balbino Gym

Sunday - 26/08

Class on the beach at Farol da Barra
Capoeira Show including world champions
Campaign against global warming

Closing ceremony for the International Festival of the Art of Capoeira
Venue: Av. Oceânica - Farol da Barra

Back to the present (with a jolt)

By an incredible coincidence, I came across the following newspaper article in Correio da Bahia yesterday:

"Teachers and students seek to strengthen Capoeira Angola: Combination dance/fight was almost extinct in the 1980s"
By Adriana Jacob

The 25th anniversary of the beginning of the process of reaffirming Capoeira Angola in Bahia will be remembered through to this coming Tuesday (August 7th) by a group of students of masters Moraes, João Grande and Cobra Mansa. Gathered at the Nzinga Institute for Capoeira Angola Studies, the International Capoeira Angola Foundation (FICA) and the Zimba Capoeira Angola Group, teachers and students held classes, rodas and debates about the aim of strengthening and discussing the combination dance/fight and sport immortalised by names like Mestre Pastinha.

"We called the event Malungos, which means 'travelling companions', because the word invokes the journey and memory of a generation of Capoeiristas who have been active participants since the time that many researchers call the reaffirmation of Capoeira Angola in Bahia," says Paulo Barreto, or Mestre Poloca, from the Nzinga Group. He explains that in the early 80s, Capoeira Angola was considered virtually exinct. "Then a group started to mobilize itself through events that showed the world that the great masters of Angola were still alive, but forgotten," he relates.

Ever since, Angoleiros, set apart by their yellow and black uniforms - chosen by Mestre Pastinha in honour of Ipiranga, his beloved football club - have been gaining more and more ground. "Today, Capoeira Angola is found in Israel, China, Japan, Turkey, Mozambique, the United States.... It's estimated that in Brazil, 8 million people play Capoeira, but most practise the regional style created by Mestre Bimba."

"Capoeira Angola is a cooperative interplay and not a competition. It is a different kind of philosophy, but it can also be violent," observes Poloca. Created in honour of Queen Nzinga of Angola - who reigned for 40 years due to her skill in negotiating and making war on the slave trade - the group makes the struggle against gender discrimination one of its watchwords. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, they hold women-only classes. "Capoeira has always been a predominantly masculine space, partly because of its past history of persecution and violence. This is a new achievement for women," says Paula Barreto, or Mestra Paulinha.

Training and more

One thing set GCAP apart from the start: it was more than a Capoeira school. It was also a centre for the study of Capoeira Angola's history and the preservation of its living treasures, the "mestres antigos".

The training routine was rigorous. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we would spend about 90 minutes practising moves and developing flexibility. Like most women, I had to work on my upper arm strength. Thanks to the GCAP method ("put one hand here, another there, and flip"), I finally learned to do an aú (in my case it was closer to a standard cartwheel than the slow, controlled Angoleiro style aú, which requires considerable arm strength and the ability to maintain a handstand).

Moraes told us that in Pastinha's school, landing with a thump was frowned on - particularly because it was on an upper floor and the people below complained. Even when the Mestre was old and blind, and probably deaf, he would catch offending "thumpers" and tell them to leave. I would have spent a lot of time in "detention" in those days.

Following the tradition of Pastinha's school, we wore black trousers and yellow t-shirts with the GCAP insignia. Trainers (sneakers) were also required - in direct contrast to the Regional "dress code" of bare feet, white baggy trousers and sometimes no shirts at all, for men.

Naturally, we also learned to play all the instruments in the Capoeira Angola "band": agogo (cowbells), recoreco (scraper), atabaque (conga drum), pandeiro (tambourine) and the Alto, Tenor and Bass berimbaus, called Rum, Rumpi and Lê, like their drum counterparts in Candomblé ceremonies.

Moraes and Cobrinha also taught us about the Angoleiro philosophy - which I found very similar to Zen thought - and encouraged us to learn about the history of our martial art. They emphasised its African roots, directly contradicting the Regional claim that Capoeira was created from scratch in Brazil, and traced its origins back to the Zebra Dance, or N'Golo, practised in what is now Angola.

They also organised "rodas de mestres antigos" to give the ageing masters of Pastinha's day a chance to show their stuff. They included some who have since passed away, like Mestre Waldemar (see photo above), as well as João Pequeno (whose school is still downstairs from GCAP in the Capoeira Fort), Curió, Mala, Boca Rica and many more - especially João Grande, of course.

Watching João Grande play was like observing a bout of chess, where hands and feet replace the pieces on the board. Mestre João can create and eliminate space, lay traps and set up his opponent as cleverly as any Russian grandmaster.

GCAP's Mestres, Contra-Mestre and top students, who then included Valmir (now Mestre at Fica in Salvador), Moraes's son Pepeu, Paulinha, Poloca, Janja and Zelias (my future ex-husband), would perform during public holidays, following a Capoeira tradition. One of the favourite dates is Bonfim Day.

Blog-to-blog

I'd like to thank Faisca (what a great name!) for his kind words about this blog in "The Capoeira Blog" at thecapoeirablog.wordpress.com

He also mentions

Bahia-Capoeira Blog - This is a promising blog with some great content. Be sure to check out their tutorials on how to string the berimbau. They also have a store, always a good thing.

Jogo Log - This one hasn’t been updated since April, but it has some good stuff. Check out the Learning Portuguese for Capoeira post.

Generic Capoeira LJ - A LiveJournal community for capoeiristas.

We met through CapoeiraEspaço, which I found through the Capoeira group on Facebook. What a great way to work together and make Capoeira as viral (and vital) on the web as it is in real life!

João Grande

I first met João Grande when I went to a restaurant in Salvador - now defunct, fortunately - called A Moenda. It was a tourist trap that served forgettable food. The main attraction was a stage show that included scantily clad dancing girls - more often found in Rio than Bahia - and a bit where an unwitting tourist was invited to join a conga line of said dancing girls. The catch - he was blindfolded. At some point, to the audience's delight, someone dressed in a gorilla suit would replace the woman behind the "mark" and dance salaciously. Since the victim thought it was a beautiful, half-naked woman, you can imagine how he responded. Some might say he deserved it, but that's really up to him and his conscience.

Towards the end of the show, there was a flashy Capoeira exhibition, and at some point a sparely built, older, dark-skinned man in an oversized Mexican-style hat played berimbau. I was told that, after each show, he also swept the stage. Clown and janitor - that was what A Moenda had tried to make of Mestre João Grande. After working till the wee hours - about 3 am - at the restaurant, he would grab an hour or so of sleep before heading to his day job at a car wash.

In an act of tremendous self-sacrifice, due, no doubt, to his passion for Capoeira, Mestre João spent his day off - Sunday - teaching anyone willing to learn, for free, at the GCAP space in Fort Santo Antonio alem do Carmo. I had the privilege of being one of those students. When I arrived for class, he'd be taking a nap on a bench, sitting up. The man seemed to be made of leather and iron. He said he rarely if ever drank water and fuelled himself with "mingau de cachorro" - a mix of manioc flour, water and garlic. He also said he never went anywhere without his berimbau - according to him, he used it to "espantar cachorro" (scare off dogs).

Fortunately - especially for us - GCAP was able to get him the documents he needed to get social security benefits and a government pension. That meant that he could teach full-time. Unfortunately - for us - he found a place that truly valued and rewarded his talents and viewed him as what he really is: a living national treasure. It should have been Bahia or at least somewhere in Brazil, but it turned out to be the Big Apple.

When I saw him earlier this year at his school in New York City, I asked one of his students how old she thought he was. She said, "About 60?" He must have been nearly that age when I met him 20 years ago. He looked younger and sprier in 2007 than I remembered him in 1987 - the spirit and soul of Capoeira Angola in flesh and blood.