Flavia Candusso
Universidade Federal de Bahia Brazil
flaviacandusso@gmail.com
Abstract
Capoeira Angola is an Afro-Brazilian musical arts expression that incorporates fight, music, dance, play, poetry, drama, visual arts, and costumes. It stems from African roots but its development took place in Brazil since the period of slavery until nowadays through oral tradition. In the last decades an internationalization movement started, with capoeira happening in many countries. The aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges of the teaching and learning process of capoeira Angola outside Brazil, in this case among South Africans, non-Portuguese speaking learners. Data have been collected during a 3-day workshop held by Mestre Cobra Mansa in Durban, South Africa.
One peculiar aspect of capoeira Angola teaching and learning methodology adopted throughout the world is that all the terms used (lyrics and movements’ names) are maintained in Portuguese. A non-Portuguese speaker learns a new language through which he/she develops skills with capoeira as well as knowledge about Afro-Brazilian culture. During workshops Masters usually transmit in a short time the essence of capoeira Angola through music, play fight, philosophical, and historical aspects. Members have to learn quickly how to play the musical instruments, the lyrics and their meaning, the movements and their sequences, and how to apply them during the play fight. The Angoleiros KwaZulu group members observed that capoeira Angola is much more than body movements and that its ethical values and its philosophy changed their life.
Keywords:
Afro-Brazilian culture, Capoeira Angola teaching and learning process, knowledge transmission in oral traditionsCapoeira Angola – An Introduction
Capoeira originates in Africa. Its womb, its mother, is known as black culture. Its father, freedom, was born and raised in Brazil in the “Recôncavo Baiano”, surrounded by trickery and Brazilian mannerisms. A rebel in its youth, it was frequently mistrusted and persecuted.
As a young adult, it developed, grew up, got itself a passport and went out into the world.
Today, more mature, it is present in the four corners of the earth and is proud to say “I’m Brazilian.” (Milani, 2004)
Capoeira Angola is an Afro-Brazilian cultural manifestation that has been orally transmitted to present times and can represent an example and expression of indigenous musical knowledge (Candusso, 2008a). It incorporates fight, music, dance, play, poetry, drama, visual arts, and costumes. From the beginning of the Portuguese colonization of Brazil and the slavery period (16th century) until the middle of the 20th century, capoeira Angola was an activity practiced mainly by black people (African or Afro-descendant). It was persecuted until its legalization in 1936. In this sense, capoeira represented and still represents a silent resistance movement against slavery, oppression, discrimination, and racism. Its philosophical values, as in most (black) African traditions, are based on ancestrality, orality, memory, circularity, spirituality, and community, and
are expressed through music, and body movements.
In regards to capoeira Angola, Abib (2005) stated:
[I]t is a rich source of humanity from which much can be learned about life and essential values for human existence, such as solidarity, equality, respect difference, sharing, respect for nature, cooperation, balance, humanity, partnership, among so many other teachings, that human wisdom has been cultivated, preserved and transmitted from generation to generation throughout the history of our country. With resistance and struggle they fought to hold on to their traditions, which represented their greatest ancestral inheritance. It was this inheritance that governed their way of being and living in the world. (p. 223)
Capoeira Angola music teaching and learning system in Brazil
Currently, capoeira Angola is practiced in centers and its dynamics can be divided into a “rhythm lesson”, a “movement lesson”, and the capoeira circle (roda de capoeira1), which constitutes its highest point. In “rhythm” lessons (see Candusso, 2008a, 2008b), children learn to play the musical instruments, berimbaus (gunga, musical arch with lower pitch), médio (intermediate pitch) and viola (higher pitch), caxixi (closed basket with seeds inside. It is played with berimbau), pandeiro (a type of frame drum), reco-reco (open-ended piece of bamboo with parallel notches cut in one side), agogô (two-sided bell), and atabaque (a wooden Afro-Brazilian hand drum, usually used in candomblé religious rituals) and simultaneously learn to sing the songs of the repertoire. In the very beginning, a newcomer starts playing reco-reco and agogô before being introduced to berimbau, the instrument that became the symbol of capoeira. The first songs learned are based on a few verses’ structure and are usually repeated many times so to be internalized and to get confidence in making variations or improvising some verses. Everyone learns according to his/her individual pace, ability and motivation.
The roda de capoeira (capoeira circle) is described by Larraín (2005) as a sacred happening where
“all ancestral forces meet at one time, to witness the ritual” (p. 76). In bygone years, capoeira was learned in roda (circle) through observation and personal experience without any evident teaching methods or pedagogy. This represented “an example of how transmission worked through orality”
(Abib, 2005, p. 178). During the roda de capoeira (capoeira circle), participants are divided between those who play the musical instruments and the others, who sit in a semicircle on the floor, waiting to play fight. The ritual is conducted by the capoeira master (mestre) and begins with a call from the berimbaus and pandeiro followed gradually by the other instruments.
The roda de capoeira event is divided into three parts, which correspond also to the musical structure: (a) the ladainha, usually sung by the master, opens up the roda de capoeira. No one play fights capoeira yet. Two players are crouched close to the berimbaus as a gesture of reverence. The ladainha song sounds like a litany and its lyrics recall the historical period of slavery and persecution, and teach the philosophical foundations of this genre, such as fraternity and wisdom (Alves, 2006, p. 243); (b) the chula or louvação, during which the whole group responds to the solo, is a moment of praise and reverence to the wisdom of old masters. The capoeira players continue to stay close to the berimbaus, concentrating on what is being sung; and (c) during the
1As capoeira is responsible for the dissemination of Portuguese Brazilian language abroad, due to the fact that the principal expressions and the lyrics have to be sung in the original language, I will maintain this terminology in Portuguese.
corridos, the solo-choir dialogue continues and pairs of players begin to play fight. They enter the roda (circle) in pairs, taking turns playing the instruments so that all can participate. According to Sousa (2006), music plays an important educational role. He found that:
[I]t is a means of communicating a musical message to the students. Everyone must then interpret the message and behave accordingly, respecting what the Master expressed in the improvised song lyrics. In this context, music establishes the social norms and validates the capoeira philosophy, playing an educational role and promoting cultural stability and continuation, according to concepts established by Merriam (1964). (p. 257)
It is possible to observe that music, according to the concept of musical arts (Nzewi, 2003), is always conceived in its wholeness. The musical discourse is never fragmented. When a group starts to play and sing, it does not stop until a signal is given through the berimbau by the master.
The music is conceived in a circular and cyclical way. The drums play a rhythmical, or better, a melorhythmical2 base, on which the songs are sung one after the other. As every group is composed of members with different knowledge levels and life experiences, even if a newcomer plays something wrong, the group supports and encourages him/her to find the way again.
Heterogeneity is a very important feature of the group community because of its enormous potential. As there is little separation between children and adults, knowledge transmission can happen in multiple directions. Even if the capoeira Angola master (mestre) is the main knowledge and memory holder, knowledge exchanges happen between learners, at the same time within children and adults, the children and the master, within the group and between groups of other centres. Internet web sites also help to spread information about capoeira and the activities of many groups.
In terms of musical teaching and learning processes (Candusso, 2008b), the following aspects are important:
Elder masters and ancestors are constantly honored through music. They are admired by the group, helping to build its cultural belonging and identity;
Children (or members) learn according to their individual pace, capacity and motivation;
Knowledge is transmitted by the master, but also through interactive processes, where, someone who knows something, teaches it to the other members of the group;
There is little separation between adults and children activities so that everyone can learn from each other;
Learning occurs mostly through non-verbal communication, by participant observation and it is practice-oriented;
Beginners often share activities with experienced capoeira masters, learning directly from them the highest standards of capoeira Angola traditions, values, and behaviors
The human being is holistically conceived with no hierarchical separation among body, mind, and spirit; and
Relationships based on solidarity, respect, cooperation, sensibility, and friendships are highly valued.
It is important to emphasize also the socially inclusive aspects as the members of a capoeira
2“Melorhythm”, according to Nzewi, is “a melodic conception that has strong rhythmic inflection. It defines the Africa-peculiar melodic formulation on toned music instruments such as membrane drums, wooden slit drums, bells (single, double, quadruple), pot drums, and plosive tubes and shells (Nzewi, 2007, p. 136).
Angola group include a large number of actively participating women, children of underprivileged communities (mostly Afro-descendant), at-risk children, children with special needs, people of different social classes, and people of different places of the world who share the philosophy of