Music in capoeira

The importance of music in Capoeira Angola is very great, and it is impossible to capture the full significance of the musical aspect of this phenomenon. Oral folklore found its place in this national element of self-knowledge, which is capoeira, and has become inseparable from the game itself. Nowadays, as well as a hundred years ago, it is almost impossible to see capoeirista playing without music.

In his book ^[1], Mestre Noronha speaks of it this way:

Training and kind are live music. During delivery, there are always three main tools:

• Berimbau ( port. Berimbau ) - a tool resembling a bow with a resonator. Berimbau plays the most important role in the musical accompaniment, he sets the basic rhythm and pace of the game in Rode. Berimbau consists of a verga ( port. Verga ) - a specially processed wooden stick (biriba, pereira, sometimes other species), a steel string - arame ( port. Arame ), and a resonator cababa ( port. Cabaça ) - a dried hollow bottle gourd. Sounds are extracted with a small wooden stick - a bucket, which also has many "local" names ( port. Baqueta, vaqueta, vareta ), and for the combination of sounds is a small flat stone, coin or metal circle - dobrau ( port. Dobrão ). In the hand that holds the bucket, usually also holds a small rattle - porridge ( port. Caxixi ), woven in the form of a basket with a hard bottom (usually cut from cabasa). The sound of cereal complements the sound of a berimbau string and makes the rhythmic pattern of the game more clear.

There are 3 types of berimbau , each of which serves its purpose:

• • Gunga , Berraboy ( port. Gunga, Berra-boi ) - berimbau with the largest cabasa and the lowest tone. Sets the main tone and pace of the game, plays the main rhythm, very rarely - variations;
  • Mediu , Sentru ( port. Medio, Centro ) - the middle berimbau, is complementary to the gunga, usually plays the opposite rhythm with respect to the gunga, sometimes with slight variations;
  • Viola , Violin ( port. Viola, Violinha ) - the highest tone, usually plays rich improvised variations of the main rhythm.
• Atabaque ( port. Atabaque ) - a traditional African drum, leads the main rhythm, the height of a man’s waist.
• Pandeiro ( port. Pandeiro ) - tambourine.

Other tools:

• Agogo ( port. Agogo ) - a double bell, which is played by striking with a wooden or metal stick in turn at each of the bells;
• River-river ( port. Reco-Reco ) - is a ribbed wooden or metal surface-rattle, which is held with a stick, removing the "crack".

Berimbau rhythms

The rhythm of the berimbau determines the nature of the game in Rhode; there are many popular traditional and "author" rhythms for this instrument, for example:

• Angola ( port. Angola ) - the rhythm under which the traditional Roda of Angola passes. It is usually performed slowly and measuredly.
• Jogu dzhentru dentro ( port. Jogo de dentro ) - the traditional rhythm of capoeira Angola, which calls to play very close to each other, mainly at the bottom, achieving the greatest interaction between the participants in the game. There are several options for playing this rhythm. It can be executed both in slow and in fast form. A variation of this rhythm in some modern directions of capoeira is the miudinho rhythm ( port. Miudinho ), usually played quite quickly.
• Chiku-chiku ( port. Tico-Tico ) is the traditional capoeira rhythm of Angola, which is also used by modern capoeira movements. Under this rhythm, a game is played for a prize (usually money wrapped in a scarf). The goal of the game is to pick up a prize for yourself, without letting your opponent do it. In the game, chiku-chiku is especially welcomed by strange and unusual ways of capturing the prize, as well as theatrical meanness and unpredictability (malisia).
• Benguela ( port. Benguela ) - In many capoeira schools, the Regional and Contemporani play the role of rhythm for the educational game. At one time, it was introduced by Mestre Bimba so that younger students could also play and learn in kind. Today, a game of older students is being conducted under Benguela, a kind of “duel” in which everyone is trying to put his “opponent” at a disadvantage, while showing himself to the best in the art of owning the body. In a bengal game, strikes are performed slowly and as close to the opponent’s body as possible, and the game itself is mostly at a lower level.
• Regional, Sau Bento Grangi de Bimba ( port. Regional, Sao Bento Grande de Bimba ) - this rhythm was invented by Mestre Bimba specifically for the regional style. Playing to such a rhythm is carried out at high speed and, in many groups, in full contact. Inexperienced capoeirista are not recommended to go into the genus to this rhythm, since they can suffer.
• Roda Livre , Sau Bento Grangi de Angola ( port. Roda Livre, Sao Bento Grande de Angola ) - Free play , the speed of the game sets the rhythm, and the character is the players themselves. The game can be either tough with full-contact strokes and throws, or completely non-contact with many acrobatic movements.
• Iuna ( port. Iuna ) - a rhythm designed for the game of masters and other very advanced players, for it the game takes on sophisticated forms, rich in complex elements. It is more characteristic of the directions Regional and Contemporania, sometimes, however, is also performed in Angolair schools. The authorship of the rhythm is attributed to Mestre Bimba.

The Capoeira Choir is one of the basic components. In fact, it is the choir that represents the main semantic component of Capoeira's music, responding to the tunes of a leading kind of musician. According to musical traditions that have their roots in African folk music, the main form of Capoeira’s music is the “ tune-answer ” model, along which almost all musical action passes, except for the ladain.

In traditional capoeira, the song cycle is divided into three main parts:

• Ladainha ^[3] ( port. ladainha ),
• shula ^[3] ( port. chula , also called “saudasau” or “louvasau”)
• korridush ( port. corrido , bullfight - in unit hours).

Capoeira Songs

Ladainha

The ladainya opens the musical sequence - this is the traditional solo song of Mestre (or the person "leading" the genus). The singer can tell a parable or convey a message to the audience. Solo can be improvised. While the master sings, the first pair of players, sitting, waits, sitting on either side of him.

Shula

Following the ladain, another form of song begins, when the soloist throws a rod and receives an answer. This is shula . The singer welcomes and reveres those who have earned great respect, offer prayers, exhorts the players. A shul may sometimes contain warnings about the skill level of a player. Observers and players respond to the soloist, repeating every phrase after him.

Standard text might look something like this:

Ie viva meu mestre
Iee, viva meu mestre, camara
Ie viva Pastihna
Iee, viva Pastihna, camara
Ie vamos jogar
Iee, vamos jogar, camara
Ie vamos cantar
Ie, vamos cantar, camara ...

There are also always variations of this text. In them, the singing player can thank his group teacher, or older students who are training with the group.

Korridush

Going to the corridor becomes a signal to start the game. Two capoeirista begin their game. Corrida, like shula, is a response form of singing, but differs in that in the corrida, the answers of each song are always the same, and not the repetition of lines sung by the leader. A good leader will improvise, responding to events in the circle, and good players will listen to singing and music.

The speed of movement coincides with the pace of the music, so the kind of begin to slow enough music to give beginners the opportunity to play, or play with maximum control and interaction at a minimum distance from each other.

The rhythm of the regional style is faster than that of the Angola style, however, there are also fast Angolair rhythms, implying greater mobility of the players in kind.

The semantic aspect of songs

It happens quite often, especially outside of Brazil, that a capoeirista begins to sing a song, not fully or even realizing its meaning. The content of some everyday songs of the past and present is correlated with such things that, without adequate understanding and interpretation, are quite capable of leading to negative consequences.

The main two semantic directions of Capoeira's songs are religious and everyday. In the first case, the songs reflect various religious and philosophical aspects of the life of a capoeirista, in the second, the singer seeks to convey to the listener various problems and moments in the life of both the personal and the whole nation.

Religious Songs in Capoeira

There are many songs constantly performed in capoeira that correlate with the concepts of religions such as umbanda and candomblé . The performer of these songs, as a rule, is attentive to their meaning, since he can somehow offend someone from the people present in the race.

Often the deep meaning of the song is lost, hiding behind many allegorical expressions and rhymes, however, the general meaning of the song for the initiate remains the same. For example, the mention of the character boiadeiro (from the port. - “cattle drover, shepherd”) may well turn out to be a reference to the spirit-deity of the same name in the Umbanda religion. The text of the song “Sai sai Catarina”, well-known among capoeirista, is an ideal example to explain how deep meaning can be hidden behind the surface lines of a song.

Sai sai catarina
Saia do mar venha ver idalina
Sai sai catarina
Oh catarina minha santa
Sai sai catarina
Oh saia do mar venha ver venha ver

The literal translation of the song is as follows:

Come out, come out Katarina
Get out of the sea, see Idalin
Come out, come out Katarina
Oh Katharina, my saint
Come out, come out Katarina
Get out of the sea to see, to see

This song talks about some Katarina and Idalin, and many think that these are simple female names and the song goes back to some kind of folk tale or story. In modern Capoeira, this may be true, however, according to Valdeloir Rego ^[4] , the word "Idalina" comes from "Idalia" - the name of the city on the island of Cyprus, where there was once a temple of Venus. Information about this fact was known to immigrants from Portugal and could well become the property of the black population of Brazil, just as they became aware of scenes from The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio and many other works of European prose and poetry. Katarina is, most likely, the syncretism of the goddess Yemanji - the goddess of the sea from Candomble and Saint Caterina of the two most common religions in the past in Brazil - Catholicism and Candomble. Thus, the singer asks Yemanja to go out to the singers from the sea and is invited to look at Idalina - the temple of Venus in Idalia.

Domestic Songs in Capoeira

Other songs in Capoeira are devoted to life aspects - in them the teacher glorifies the skill of his students, the students glorify the greatness and value of the contribution of his teacher, the soldiers perpetuate the terrible and bloody moments of the history of their country (" Sou eu, Maita "), the slaves complain about injustice and oppression, a young man praises the beauty of his chosen one (" Pé de lima, pé de limão "), and she may not answer him the same.

• Capoeira Lyrics Project - A huge archive of Capoeira lyrics .
• Center for Support and Development of Dancers "Alliance" - a huge archive of music for capoeira.