Friday, September 26, 2008

25th September's Class

You learnt:

Sequência 1
--please refer to your .pdf file.--


New Bit
Players are in ginga da façada (alternating).
Player 1: cocorinha entrando, ginga parallela, esquiva frontal, bote
Player 2: cocorinha entrando, ginga parallela, esquiva frontal, bote

Bote ("Boat"--previously we called this 'little coil' because we didn't know its name):

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Saturday BBQ

Hey guys!

Sorry the the late update, been really busy. Anyways, the saturday BBQ was Great! A big thank you to Aisha and Aliph for the wonderful food and helping us to get the location. A big thank you to the girls who came early and helped skewer and prepare the food. I'm sure every on enjoyed the food, even I did...both the well cooked ones and the overly well cooked ones. A big thank you to myself for starting the fire hahaha.

It was great to see the rest of the family from HQ and SMU. Though our numbers in total were not very large, we had loads of fun. Here are some of the pictures, the rest are in the facebook group (:.




Love Love
Bambu

Learn Some REAL Capoeira!

Feeling stressed from schoolwork?

Need to smash something expensive?

Feel the need? The need for SPEED?

Play Capoeira Fighter 3! Challenge your friends! Do sick moves you never would have dreamed of!

PS: Oh, and tell us who your favourite character + combos is in the comments section!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

23rd September's Class

Okay, some of you might have accidentally picked up the Meia Lua de Compasso:

Although this guy is trying to kill hobbits, you should be trying to hit human-sized targets.

Everything else was realising that you're actually aiming for something with your other kicks (Martelo, Queixada, Meia Lua de Frente).

Us people who pretend better tried to kill kicking pads with:

Martelo do chão (Martelo from the Ground), which is like a Chapeu de Couro (Hat of Leather, or Leather Hat), but from Esquiva Frontal. Below is Chapeu de Couro:


Au Chibata: There are two types: one where you end up in parallela and the other where you end up in negativa. This is the upright version.


Tricky Meia Lua de Compassos

Gancho (Hook) from faked Martelo. Youtube only has the Gancho, sans feint.


Parafuso

I caution: do not actually hit with the armada of the parafuso, or you are going to crash painfully into the floor!

Yeah, it does seem like learning Capoeira from Youtube, no? Hahaha! Anyway, one last thing for berimbau players:

It's not exactly a 32 string piano (or however many strings a piano has) with an Orlando Bloom 'Legolas beat', but it's still pretty cool. I never knew you could play it like that! His name is Naná Vasconcelos. You can find other psychedelic videos of him on Youtube. Stoke up your bong pipe and prepare to get stoned!

Stay Sexy (and don't do what I did in the roda today),
-EW

Friday, September 19, 2008

Capoeira in MMA

Courtesy of one of our members.



This is from the movie Never Back Down, which goes to show that Capoeira is not above making fun of itself. :) The lesson in the movie to breeeaaathe (shaa shaa shaa!) is very important. Don't forget to breathe when you are doing handstand bananeiras and the like. :)

Another angle:

Not Le La Lae Lae La AGAIN?!?

Aren't you tired of hearing the same songs OVER AND OVER again?!?!? Want to show the seniors "who the real maestro--not to be confused with 'mestre'--is"?! (to those in the know, that was a classic line from 'Only the Strong')

Then submit your song-post in the comments section! It could be a webpage with the lyrics (hopefully with audio file), a streaming video (just tell us from when to when on the timescale), a roda in which the song is sung, perhaps even just a chorus typed phonetically because you don't know the song title.

The condition (yes, there's always one, isn't there?) is that you must master the soloist's part. We'll try to help you if we can (or pretend to if we can't). Then we'll forcefeed everyone else the coro ('chorus') and wala! Instant Maestro/a!

NB: This is not homework (sweet Betsy, the last thing capoeira is is wooooorrrrk, but if you've found a song that you like and would like to share it, please do. Don't worry, this will be a recurring blogpost we'll move up once in a while, so you can find (or stumble upon) a song at your own pace.

-EW

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Move Grooves of the Day!

Hey every body!

Today was GREAT! well you guys learned these moves:

Armada



Another shot of the Armada:


You all also learnt Meia Lua de Frente and Armada Combo. Which is part of the Mestre Bimba Sequences, sequence 1. Go check the pdf file i sent to you guys for details of the sequence.

You all were introduced today to a new move called Queda de Rins ('Fall on Kidneys'--that's why your elbow must be tucked into your side!), check our chimps moves link for the picture and the moves.

You also learnt that 'esquerda' means left, while 'direita' means right.

Lastly, you learnt a move of which I do not know the name. We'll temporarily christen it 'Little Coil'. From Negativa de Angola, pull your tripping leg back until you are in Quebra de Ginga (the 'Break of the Swing'). Then bring your front foot back and go down, supporting yourself on your back foot and your front arm. Back arm protects your face, front leg wraps around your back leg. It's like a Negativa de Angola, but with your front leg wrapped around your back one.
For the seniors, I cant find anything on the net that resembles what we learnt. But we should make our own notes and draw our own diagrams (because one doesn't need to know what a move is called to know how to do it):
Feta (?fingir?) de Au, Queda de Rins, swap over to other side Queda de Rins.

Love Love
Bambu

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Its Mugging Time!

Hello Every body!

Its Mugging Time! Yey! Time to hit those books after hitting Capoeira sessions. Well for those of you who are stressed I highly recommend South Park/Simpsons/ Family Guy/ American Dad to de-stress. This is a study tip site (:

Ok, if you have headaches or neck aches from diving in those books; this is a rejuvenating massage:


Or! You could try Hypnotherapy to relieve stress! I've tried it and boy does it do wonders hehehe. Ok now, I know you're studying really hard, but do the two polls on the side bar regarding Tuesday Sessions please pretty please!

For those who have not replied me in the mail regarding your T-shirts and committee and BBQ, hurry up and do so!

Love Love 
Bambu (:

-ps, I have hamsters to adopt, 2 babies right now hurry and reply me if you want them

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I Joined Capoeira Because...

Come on, we've all had strange, almost whimsical reasons to join capoeira. Well, it's CONFESSION TIME!

Leave your reasons in the 'Comments' section.

- Hijacking this post: CHECK YOUR MAIL ALL OF YOU!! (:

Friday, September 12, 2008

11th September's Class

You learnt:

Negativa de Angola (Angolan Negation)


Notice that after the negativa de angola you can rolé? This allows you to move, attack, escape. Erm, nevermind, you'll learn it later.

This is also the negativa de angola. You learnt to enter using the negativa de angola. Mestre Brasilia shows how you can use it to escape an attack with style!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Scandinavian Malícia

Who knew they practised Capoeira in Norway too?

Malícia is loosely translated as guile, cunning, deception, streetsmarts. It's what you develop as a 'side-effect' of playing the game of capoeira. You learn to read--at least when you are playing capoeira--other people, whether they're committing or faking, what they intend to do, how they'll react to your [faked] actions.

Have you seen other examples of the legendary malícia in action? Post them up in the comments section! They could be links or even anecdotes!

-EW

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Launch of Facebook!

Hey guys,

I just launched our facebook account to store photos because the blog is very inept at storing them. Add yourselves to our account and you guys can go STUDY each of the photos taken so far in detail hehe.

Our facebook account uses the name and email: Capoeira Nus , capoeira.nus@gmail.com

Love Love
Bambu

Monday, September 8, 2008

Sentosa Roda!!





Hello every body!

Sorry for the late post. I couldn't find my camera cable! I borrowed my hall mate's one and thanks to her, here are the photos (:

Well the weather wasn't too sunny but the temperature was just right, not too hot, not too cold. We had our dear dear Ying Wen ( the gal in blue ) and our handsome sentosa guide Alvin and Adrian join us. We had alot of fun practicing the quixadas, melua defrentes, esquivas and aus.

I learnt something important that day. When we play in the roda, or when we enter the roda, we have to not only look out for our opponent but we have to also scan the surroundings for any objects that might cross our path in the roda. I failed to check the roda and its surroundings before I entered and when I Au-ed in, my legs landed on a charging toddler. My my...that poor girl. I'll bet she will grow up to have a fear of Au-s and capoeira ( or I might have knocked her IQ up to that of Einstein!)

Just my 5 cents worth (:

Love Love
Bambu

Sunday, September 7, 2008

COUNT OUT LOUD!!!

just a random thought at 5am.

most of us can play the instruments of the bataria to a certain extent. and most of us knows that to play the instrument and sing at the same time requires another whole lot of concentration, and mentaly partitioning.

to put things into perspective, bear with the analogyies below.

to pick up any instrument and shake it, hit it or whatever it is you do to produce sound is like:
-a level 1 module, simple, introduction and easy to smoke your way through
-playing a PC game on tutorial mode....less enemies to slaughter, and generally they're slow and weak and seemingly has the urge to jump in front of your attacks.

to pick up an instrument and play it in the correct rhythm is like:
- a level 2 or 3 module. no longer straight forward, but requires some adaptation and personal response
-playing the same PC game in beginer or intermediate difficulty level...suddenly u need to concentrate more, move more and it get more interesting for youself as enemy suddenly no longer jump to you to get slaughtered.

------
but to pick up an instrument, play the correct rhythm and singa at the same time is like:
-a level 5 module when u're a freshmen...totally lost most of the time
-palying the same PC game at HELL mode!!! suddenly very ones coming to slaughter you and u don't know how to handle the influx of info....

however, it can be trained up via a very simple way.... COUNT OUT LOUD when u play....it allows you to practice multitasking and traings your mind to work both your mouth and hands together. the more u do so, the soon the playing becomes an auto-pilot kinda thing and u can focus more on singing new songs or singing your own songs while playing.

so if u've not gotten anything i've written above, just remember, COUNT OUT LOUD!!!! nothing to be embarass about.

Pek /Cabure

Friday, September 5, 2008

'TumTum, Pup, Tum'


Atabaque!
Originally uploaded by Dr. GORI ( PJr.)
Hellohello=]

i'm here to introduce my favorite instrument in the Bataria(ie the band that plays the music you 'jogo' to in the roda consisting of the berimbau, atabaque and pandeiro)

the Atabaque...haha!!!

anyway, for those who are new to capoeira, the Atabaque is basically a drum. Though not the protagonist of the Bataria( that of course goes to the Berimbau, curve bow with a string and a roundround gourd), it is still a important part of the main trio. And together with the Pandeiro(ie tamborine) it helps to reinforce the rhythm played by the Berimbau, giving the songs more depth and acoustical substance....

personally, i find the Atabaque the easiest instrument to pick up. it has 2 basic tones.

-Tone A produces the ''tum tum tum'' sound by hitting the edge of the drum surface with our fingers closed and hands partially cupped. The contact points are the fleshy bits of the palm just below our fingers and the tip section of our finger. Tone A should not be flat and should resonate, and is achieve by hitting and lifting, ie not to let the hand rest on the drum after the hit. those who play the piano or other conventional instruments, its a Staccato hit

-Tone B produces the ''pup pup pup'' sound by slapping the center of the drum surface with fingers open. The contact points for this tone is the entire hand. Tone B should be a loud and flat sound that does not echo or resonate hence the hand is left resting on the drum surface through out the entire count( more on counting and rhythm below) again those who play the piano or other conventional instruments,its a Legato hit

as for counting and rhythm. its actually a 3 bit rhythm. however having said so, we hit the drum 4 times*confusingconfusing* hahaha!! allow me to explain, we count the rhythm as '1,2,3...4...1,2,3...4...1,2,3...4...'. Hit 1 and Hit 2 are half counts of Tone A, ie done fast consecutively,while Hit 3 is a full count of Tone B and Hit 4 is a full counts of Tone A. so......what you get is something that sounds like,
''Tumtum,Pup...Tum... Tumtum,Pup...Tum... Tumtum,Pup...Tum...''

alright before i make this too confusing,click HERE for a simple demo, hopefully it will clarify my attempts to explain playing the Atabaque above....hahaha!!!

on a last note,
-to produce a nice sound on the Atabaque, ones arm, ie shoulder, elbows, wrist, and fingers must always remain RELAX!!!! If the arm is tense, the sound produced is very soft and dead.
-always count out the rhythm(ie actually say out loud the "1,2,3...4...1,2,3...4...1,2,3...4...'' when you play. this not only helps you in keeping the rhythm constant, but it allows you to practice for the future when you no longer need to count out the rhythm, but want to sing to the chorus while playing the Atabaque.
-click HERE to link to another article about playing the Atabaque that includes links to other more uncommon rhythms that one might encounter.

well, i guess this is enough said...the more you play, the more you'll improve and before you know it, you'll be able to not just play the rhythm, and flourishes(improvisation the break from the regular 4 count rhythm buy still stick to the 3 bit rhythm).

Cabure/Pek
p.s. dear fellow snrs, forgive me for the longwinded post with all the explanation and translation. its a intro. post for capoeiristas-to-be la...hahahaha!!!

4th Sep's Class

You learnt:

Queixada. 'Queixo' is 'chin'. Dá means 'to give'. So you could understand 'queixada' is 'giving it to the chin', which is what you're aiming for anyway.


Cadeira. 'Cadeira' means 'chair'. Carpentry techniques weren't always what they are today. In the old days, such low chairs were made of bone and sinew.


Cocorinha Entrada. 'Entrance with the Cocorinha'. 'Cocorinha' means 'defecation'. Unlike the Queixada, this is emphatically not what you are aiming for.. It's hard to find a video of this because many groups call it different names, and some don't have a name for it. The closest thing so far is 'Jinga 4' in this video. If you find something with better pedagogical utility, let us know in the comments.


Lastly, you learnt these songs:
Cajuê
Quem vem la, sou eu
Audio here.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Who in the world is Mestre Luizinho?!


Well......He's our Mestre! He's that cool chap who guide's us. Although he is based in Australia, he comes over every quarter to give us free workshops to make sure all of us are in shape (:

This is some information about him I got from the ZC main website:

Luizinho Barravento was born in Salvador - Bahia - Brazil on the 26th of March 1974. Luiz has been involved with Capoeira since the age of three. He began in 1977 with his father and teacher Mestre Geni. He has travelled around Brazil and South America doing displays to promote Capoeira Zambiacongo. He studied physical education from 1993 - 1995 but deferred his studies and travelled to Australia to extend Capoeira Zambiacongo.

Luizinho Barravento opened the first Australian Zambiacongo Capoeira School at the Gold Coast, Queensland in January 1996. In 2000, he became a Mestrando (level below Master). This was the year Luiz also took a group of 10 Zambiacongo Students to travel Brazil and his home state of Bahia, allowing his students to gain even more knowledge and experience with the history of Capoeira.

Luiz has followed in the footsteps of his father and contributed to the growth of Zambiacongo and not just only in Brazil. The group is growing immensely and he has established schools in Gold Coast, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Kingscliff and Darwin.

In 2002 Luizinho was graded as a Master in Capoeira by his father Master Geni. That same year Luizinho made the top 10 in the World Capoeira Championship organised by Group Muzenza in Curitiba - Brasil.

Mestre Luizinho is currently running academy on Gold Coast, QLD, Australia.

**********
And with that is the workshop he gave us in 2007:


Now for Part 2

Yup! Thats a really short introduction of him and you HAVE to meet him cause he just exudes positive vibes...he literally glows with it haha.

Love love
Bambu

Today's Class





Hey every body!

Today's class was a blast. Please please remember to stretch at home if you can so that you will not pull a muscle. 

For today's class you all did:
Ginga
Melua De Frente
Bencao
Esquiva Lateral & Esquiva Frontal
Au

Some of us went for dinner just now and here are the pics. Do join us next time if you guys are hungry (:

As the resident Masseur, I feel that it is important to give yourselves a good rub down to ease the sore muscles. I have found some nice youtube videos that teaches basic self massage so see if it can help you guys yeah?

For the Feet;
& Of course the Lower Back

Oh yah! I forgot to announce, we're going to Sentosa this sunday for a Roda! Yes! It will be from 4 - 6 pm at Siloso beach. I'll tell you guys more on thursday.

Love Love
Bambu


Monday, September 1, 2008

We're on the Web!

We're on Youtube!


Its a video of one of our practice sessions where we share what we know with each other (:


Special Thanks to Rohan, Nishanth and Tejasvi  for the great work. Hahhaa, now we have a club video!

Support www.talkdodo.com!

Love love
Bambu

O Dendê

SOMEone once told me that you don't have to like or even understand what a song says to like it. Lo and behold, I like this song, and I hope you like it too (maybe enough to learn the lyrics so that I won't have to) . The visual dribble that passes off as a video is my fault (and Muvee Autoproducer 6.1). The pictures are stolen from the Net.

Oh, I should add that the music is not mine (obviously). Grupo Abada Capoeira has kindly uploaded their song for free download. Erm, I hope I didn't do anything illegal by making the movie. Anyway, you can get it here.

O Dendê

Oh dendê, dendê maré

Oh dendê, dendê maré

Oh dendê, dendê maré

(Oh Dendê de Maré...Dendê)

Oh dendê, dendê maré

(Oh Dendê de Maré...Dendê)

Oh dendê, dendê maré

(Oh Dendê de Maré...Dendê)

Oh dendê, dendê maré


Pescador já foi pro mar

Foi de encontro à maré

Foi buscar o peixe bom

Conforme a baiana quer


- coro -

Baiana prepare o peixe

Pescador já vai pro mar

Põe tempero na moqueca

Dendê não pode faltar


- coro -

(Eh que) Totonho de maré


Foi um grande jogador

A onda balança o barco

Como o Totonho balançou

- coro -

Pescador que é pescador

Sabe a hora de pescar

Sabe segredos do rio

E também do alto mar

- coro -

Puxa puxa leva leva

Puxa rede lá do mar

Mas se for bom pescador

O peixe não vai faltar

- coro -

É noite de lua cheia

Pescador já vem pro mar

Vai ter festa na aldeia

Capoeira vai jogar

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide

The palm trees [brushed by the] tide


The fisherman was at the sea

To meet the tide

To seek the good fish

Which conformed to what the bahia girl wants

chorus

The bahia girl prepared the fish

The fisherman went to the sea

She puts spices in the fish/mussels simmered in oil & pepper

Not forgetting the coconut oil


‘Totonho of the tide’(a capoeira mestre)

Was a great player

The wave rocked the boat

Just like how Totonho swayed


A fisherman [who knows his stuff]

Knows the time to fish

Knows the secrets of the river

And also of the high seas


Pull, pull, take, take

Pull the net from the sea

But to be a good fisherman

You can’t forget the fish


The night of the overflowing moon

The fisherman comes from the sea

Goes to party in the village

The capoeirista goes to play




Cut.
-EW