Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Exam De-Stressers!

To those of you who missed dinner, well, that's 'choo baad! But here are some funny videos that were bandied about. Give your own in the comments section!



AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!




This last one has to be the best. Just try not to laugh!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Vote where you would like to have dinner! Yum Yum!

Hello NUS Capo people! While miserably mugging, remember that it is still important to eat, lest you starve before your finals!

And what better way to eat than with your equally miserable friends?! After all, misery loves company!

Tentatively, the NUS Capo dinner is set on 18th November 08, Tuesday evening. Not okay with the date? Let us know! Meanwhile, do vote on the venue. You can vote for more than one place. Want to suggest another place? Let us know!

Don't worry, you can change your vote later!

Love love,
-EW

It looks like we're having it at Botak Jones on Tuesday night. Sorry, Dadi lovers (myself included), maybe next time. Since everyone is busy studying, we shall make it a hard 7.30 pm. If you come later, don't expect people to still be there! Those who have to mug can leave after they've swallowed their grub. Those who want to stay and chat and play a little roda outside Botak Jones can also do so.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Class tml!

Hello every one! there will be class tml!

It will be a short class to :

Play roda and more roda!
Send off any other exchange students and Eng wen!
It will end 745 pm, much earlier than usual due to exams

So those of you who voted better come!!

Love Love

I'll distribute Tees tml

Bambu

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Vote for Tuesday class!

Dear All!

Please leave your vote in the poll whether you want tuesday class or not. If you guys want the class,hopefully I can pass the T-shirts to you all because the guy has promised me that he will send the T-shirts to me by monday with a compensation cash voucher.

Hear from you guys soon!

Results will be out on Monday night!

Love Love
Tk

How to Use Capoeira in a Street Fight

Stressed out by exam preparations? Learn how to use capoeira in a street fight!


Check out the queixada to compasso combo at the 4:00 mark. Always pretend to be tired, unless you really are! The headboard-slide-kick is classic.

This is another video by Team MAX of NUS Martial Arts. See any familiar faces?! :P

Friday, November 7, 2008

Multi-Hit Combos!

Bencao followed by martelo with the other leg!


Now you can be like your favourite video game character (once you've gotten over the drooling, ladies!)!

What are your favourite combos? Share!

Stay Sexy,
-EW

Ser Capoeira

Ser Capoeira (Mestre Marcos Gytaúna)



Aê, ê, ê, aê, ê, êa
Aê, ê, ê, aê, ê, êa

Como falar do amor (How can I speak of love)
se você não sabe que é amar (if you don’t know what it is to love)
Como falar do saber (How can I speak of knowing)
se você não sabe entender (if you don’t know how to understand)
Como falar da malícia (How can I speak of malícia)
se você não conhece a maldade (if you don’t know wickedness)
Como falar da mentira (How can I speak of lies)
se você não conhece a verdade… (if you don’t know truth…)

É por isso que eu sou (It is for this that I am)
Capoeira… (X8)

Aeee…Aeee…
É na malícia que o negro tem… (It’s in malícia that the slave has)
Aeeaaa…Aeeaaa…
É na luta da liberdade… ( It’s in the fight for freedom)
Aeee…Aeee…
É no chicote, a cicatriz… (In the lash, a scar)
Aeeaaa…Aeeaaa…
É na marca desigualdade… ( It’s in the mark of difference)
Aeeee…. aeeeaaa….

My Favourite Instrument

Hello, in line with Cabure's post, I would like to share my favourite instrument too!

My favourite instrument is the berimbau viola. Traditionally, there are three berimbaus (gunga, médio, and viola). And--if you want to split hairs--there is also the berra-boi (bigger than the gunga) and the violinha (smaller than the viola).

So generally the viola is smallest berimbau. It is true that size matters, but in the capoeira world it's backwards. Unlike the other two, the viola makes a nice metallic twang when you pluck it, like hitting a small puppy. Here is an interesting video on plucking twangers.

Yes, I remember watching Rainbow when I was young too. Unfortunately that was a dud episode which wasn't aired, or we would have been learning about capoeira a lot sooner.

Anyway, the viola is only fun to play in accompaniment to other berimbaus (which usually means an angola roda unfortunately). This is because of the freedom it has to dance in and out of the toque (rhythm).

Due to their musical roles, I imagine that if the instruments were characters in a play, the gunga would be an old man: wise, toothless and feeble. The médio would be middle-aged: greying at the temples, stuck in tradition, yet trying to change it in his own way. The viola would be a young punk: irreverently thumbing his nose--if noses had thumbs--at tradition and rules. The atabaque would be the strong silent type, stout and dependable. The pandeiros would be motherly women, perhaps sisters, but with a jealous streak. The agogô would be a crying attention-craving child. The reco-reco is the first born child that's pissed that everyone now only dotes on the Agogô.

And the funny thing is, a lot of times the people who end up playing these instruments have suitable personalities!

So the gunga starts with a base toque. There are three notes (plus some sound effects) a berimbau can make: a 'dom' (coin away from the wire), a 'ting' (coin pressed hard into the wire), and a buzz, a 'tch' (coin barely kissing the wire). The angola toque, for example, would go like this: tch-tch dom tiiiinng, tch-tch dom tiiiinng. The médio plays a contra-toque (counter rhythm), playing a 'dom' for every 'ting' the gunga plays and vice-versa. The viola says, to hell with all that, I'm getting out there, and I'm going to be sex-AY! (yes, you can see why I like it, no?) 'Look at me!', it screams. 'I'm hotter than Paris!' talking a lot without really saying anything. Occasionally, it goes back into the rhythm, but only because it feels like it, and then its out and about, tossing out the musical equivalent of the ginga and cavorting musical floreios for the crowd.

Yes, the viola is the bateria's cam-whore.

Stay Sexy,
-EW

PS: If you are wondering why, though you're trained in Western music, you have no idea what I'm talking about, it is because for me a 'legolas beat' (refer to Cabure's post) is when Orlando Bloom shoots down yet another orc.