Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Some Capoeira Youtube Videos

Hello. This is the first time I am blogging. Ever. Do forgive my dearth of blogging protocol.

Today's lesson is on the different types of capoeira games. Firstly, I'd like to say that there's no hard-and-fast rules over what can and cannot happen in a certain type of game; those of you who've met Contra-mestre Grilo (Cricket) will recall that doing the wrong move at the right time is still a right move, and if you did the correct move at the correct time and you still get hit, well, then you got hit!

But while the rules are not 'hard-and-fast', each type of game does have a certain characteristic to it.


Angola: You should know what this is. Here is an angola corrida ('running' angola) video, courtesy of Phasit, I believe.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1CHpsAr7LO0


Regional: Some people think Capoeira Regional is the cool one with acrobatics. Well... yes and no. I think this is what it was more likely to have been: very very objective.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E1CRuWusKoE
But over time well, things change, no? And people have their own way of doing things.

Some people think that the 'Benguela' rhythm just calls for a slower, lower Regional game, and perhaps in the past this was indeed the case. But it can also be played in it's own unique way:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P0rfwe8vJ5I


Mestre Suassuna has been developing (he says 'rediscovering') the Miudinho game. A quick search on Babelfish reveals that 'miudinho' means 'finicky'. And when the players ginga, it's like an electric current's zapping them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR_AsxmibkI

Iuna is a game played for graduated students and masters. Usually it's played when a graduate becomes an instructor, or when a master has passed away. This is not Iuna:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKytcOizCUs&feature=related
But this is (I think):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUYVPK-9c8c

So what happened to the Capoeira that we do know? The flashy one where we are sexy while kicking ass? Well, I think that's played to Sao Bento Grande de Angola, but maybe that's just me. All I'm saying is that with the internationalisation of Capoeira, with so many grupos doing their own 'thang, we shouldn't stick to grand narratives. In fact, I suspect there were no grand narratives of how capoeira was played back in those days either; just a bunch of petit recits (my apologies so Sociology majors if I have used the terms wrongly).

Like Captain Barbados once said, 'It's not a code! It's more like a ... set of guidelines, aargh!'

Stay Sexy (yes, I do think this is a cool way to sign off),
-EW

PS: Yes, I am aware that I left out many other types of games like Santa Maria (jogo de navalha), the money game, etc. Well, that's because if I did know these things, I wouldn't be some undergrad poseur!

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