History of Capoeira

"Capoeira or the Dance of War" drawn by Johann Moritz Rugendas (1793—1838)

Capoeira Angola is the traditional style of Bahian Capoeira. It is usually, although not always, characterized by playful, ritualized games, which combine elements of dancing, combat, and music, while stressing interaction between the two players and the musicians and observers

History

Capoeira has its roots in Central and West African cultures that were brought to Brazil through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. There are diverse theories about the origins of the art form. One of the most popular was introduced by Álbano Neves e Sousa in 1965. This theory was subsequently adopted and developed by Luís da Câmara Cascudo in his book Folclore do Brasil in 1967.

The theory concerns a practice known as "N'golo," or the Dance of the Zebras. The movements of N'golo mimicked the movements of fighting zebras. The N'golo dance was practiced by young warriors competing for the hand of a young woman of marriagable age in a puberty rite known as efundula. The specific group cited by Neves e Sousa was the Mucupe (sometimes spelled Mucope)in Southern Angola. Whoever had a more impressive performance won the bride and was excused from having to pay a dowry.

The 'N'golo theory maintains that in the port of Benguela, and also once in Brasil, the dance developed into a foot-fighting style that was used by both bandits and slaves for defence and attack. The N'golo and its 'cognates' are argued to have been been used by Africans and Afro-Brazilians to maintain themselves spiritually and physically under the harsh circumstances of slavery and plantation life. It developed mainly in three places: Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and the state of Bahia. While in the first two places, Capoeira was said to be violent, and had no music, in Bahia it became more of a ritualized game, with a strong musical element. It should be noted that much of what is known of Rio de Janeiro capoeira in the 1900s and earlier derives only from police reports, which naturally included no information about whether capoeira in Rio was done to music or not. Various police orders were given to search capoeiristas carrying instruments, usually 'marimbas', however.

The Bahian style of the late 19th and early 20th century became what is today referred to as Capoeira Angola. This term was originally coined by Mestre Pastinha in an attempt to differentiate it from Capoeira Regional, which was created by Mestre Bimba in the 1930's. Mestre Pastinha was the founding Mestre of Brazil's first officially recognized capoeira Angola academy, the 'Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola', which was originated in 1941 and gained government recognition in 1952.

Since the 1960s the N'golo theory has become popular amongst practitioners of capoeira Angola, although it is not accepted by all scholars of the art form. Considerable academic discussion of the N'golo has occurred. Some books which relate specifically to the origins of capoeira Angola and discuss the N'golo theory are: Nestor Capoeira's: 'Capoeira Roots of the Fight-Dance-Game', Waldeloir Rego's excellent: 'Capoeira Angola Ensaio Socio-Etnografico' (in Portuguese), Gerard Taylor's in depth study of Capoeira's African antecedents: 'Capoeira The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace Volume One', J. Lowell Lewis's 'Ring of Liberation', Matthias Röhrig Assunção's 'Capoeira The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art' and an interesting essay by, T.J Desch Obi in 'Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora' edited by Linda M. Heywood.

While many practitioners in Bahia used their knowledge of capoeira to fight, the elements of Capoeira Angola can be practiced without solely relying on the martial elements.

Since the rise of Capoeira Regional as practiced by the group Senzala in Rio de Janeiro (the name came from Mestre Bimba's school which originally taught what was called the "luta regional baiana" or the "Regional Fight of the state of Bahia"), the popularity of Capoeira Angola declined in the face of the flashier and far more overtly martial style. Apparently very little thought was given to the roots of capoeira by the Grupo Senzala, who's style of Capoeira 'Regional' became popular in Rio de janeiro and Southern Brazil in the 1960s and 1970s. It was assumed by many, including masters of the Angola style, that 'Angola' was seeing a slow slide toward becoming a historical footnote.

By the end of the 1970's however, many players of Capoeira Regional began to seek out the older Angola masters in order to connect with and understand the roots of the game. Capoeira Angola thus experienced a resurgence that involved a re-assessment of the traditional form of Capoeira. This may also have been due to the fact that Capoeira began to be played outside of Brazil, where a greater number of capoeiristas became interested in Capoeira Angola (the bias of most Brazilians against elements of their country's culture that come from Africa, especially those things that have a relationship to African traditions, could partly explain why outsiders could have more interest than Brazilian practitioners in the traditional form of the art).

It is worth noting that many feel that Capoeira Angola itself has changed from what it used to be 100 years ago. It is much more organized, and the style of play, though it is distinct from Capoeira Regional, has become very technical in some places. This is a natural outcome of having capoeira academies (in Portuguese, the word "academy" means the same as "gym" in English - a place of exercise), and classes for Capoeira Angola, where training goes on.