Mestre Acordeon http://www.mestreacordeon.com Capoeira master, musician, author & producer Mon, 22 Jul 2013 20:08:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 TEST http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/test http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/test#comments Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:17:13 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://www.mestreacordeon.com/?p=792 Besouro is the greatest and he is on line helping me to manage my page……

 

Recruta just arrived….

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HOMAGE TO MESTRE PEIXINHO http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/homage-to-mestre-peixinho http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/homage-to-mestre-peixinho#comments Mon, 16 May 2011 19:10:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/homage-to-mestre-peixinho/
 
 
In portuguese and English.
 
 
Dez ou quinze anos atras eu estava no Rio de Janeiro durante um batizado do Mestre Peixinho. O salão estava cheio de capoeiristas, convidados e muitos mestres. O ambiente estava eletrizado e nos fizemos um jogo que jamais esquecerei. 
Peixinho mantinha sua cadência usual com elegância e fluidez. Eu fazia o melhor que podia naquele momento de manha e perigo. Em certo ponto, eu chamei ele para o passo a dois… Peixinho veio e caminhamos juntos  enquanto eu arquitectava uma malandragem para surpreendê-lo. Chegou a hora e apliquei uma tesoura fulminante. Rodei no ar e esperei ver o Mestre cair. Não sei como Peixinho conseguiu saltar como um peixe voador ou melhor, como um morcego se esquivando de uma pedrada certeira. Ele deu um mergulho passando entre minhas pernas e parou numa queda de rim, liso e pronto para o que desse e viesse. Eu fiquei abismado com sua velocidade e principalmente com sua capacidade de antecipar um movimento tão inesperado. A plateia veio abaixo com aplausos que pontuaram o momento culminante daquele jogo. 
Gostaria de ter visto aquele passagem mágica mas não sei se existe algum video daquela roda. Ficou apenas a fotografia em que a Pimpa cristalizou o momento exato em que minha tesoura cortou o vento.
Peixinho se foi e levou consigo uma simplicidade exemplar e sofisticada, sua arte de falar pouco, uma energia quieta mas sempre presente, ensinamentos, amizade e todas as qualidades positivas que ele enfeixou em suas mãos como ser humano, mestre e capoeiristas. Adeus, Mestre. O Senhor viverá em nossas memórias!
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Ten or fifteen years ago I was in Rio de Janeiro at a batizado of Mestre Peixinho. The room was full with many guests, capoeiristas, and invited mestres. A fantastic energy was floating in the air, electrifying the jogos. Peixinho and I had a jogo that I will never forget. 
As usual, Peixinho was maintaining his elegant cadence with fluidity. I was doing the best that I could with great attention to the manha and danger involved. At a certain point, I did a call for the passo a dois. Peixinho accepted and we walk together back and forth… Of course I was engendering a malandragem to catch him off guard. The moment arrived and I went for a fulminant tesoura de costas. I spun in the air and expected to see the Mestre fall. Peixinho jumped like a flying fish or a bat dodging a well thrown rock. He flew in between my legs and landed in a perfect queda-de-rins, ready for whatever was about to happen. I was astonished with his speed and capacity to anticipate my treacherous movement. The audience applauded enthusiastically, framing the crux of the jogo. 
I would like to have seen that magic escape, but I have no clue if there was any video tape of it. Only Pimpa’s precise photo crystalized the moment in which my tesoura cut the empty air.
Peixinho left us for real. He took with him an exemplary and sophisticated simplicity, his art of speaking in a few words, his ever present quite and positive energy, his teachings, friendship, and all the great qualities that he held as a human being, a mestre, and a capoeirista. Boa viagem, Mestre. You will live in our memories!
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WHERE IS JASON? http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/where-is-jason http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/where-is-jason#comments Mon, 09 May 2011 15:15:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/where-is-jason/
Em Português and in English
Algum tempo atras eu recebi uma cópia do meu livro “Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form” pelo correio. Ele tinha sido transformado em um diário pessoal porquê a pessoa que me enviou a cópia escreveu seus pensamentos, ideias e ideais em suas páginas. O livro tornou-se uma colagem com textura própria e com um grande sentimento de amor pela capoeira. Este trabalho me inspirou a escrever um livro neste estilo. Tentei materializa-lo com o livro “Capoeira Arts Café: Uma Academia de Capoeira” mas, não foi possível. The “Capoeira Arts Café” tornou-se um livro extraordinário nos seus próprios méritos por causa das suas fotografias e memórias escritas por nossos alunos. É um livro de conteúdo e fotografias bonitas mas, publicado numa forma convencional.
Esta manhã eu me deparei de novo com o livro de Jason no meio da bagunça do meu “escritório”. Passei algum tempo folheando ele que de novo me inspirou. Infelizmente perdi o endereço do Jason e nunca pude lhe agradecer. Estou agradecendo a ele neste momento e espero que um dos nossos leitores me ajudem a encontrar Jason, talvez na Australia ou Nova Zelandia.


Some time ago I received a copy of my book “Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form” in the mail. It was transformed into a personal journal, because the person who sent it wrote his thoughts, ideas, and ideals all over the pages. It became a beautiful scrapbook of wonderful texture and weight. It inspired me to do a book in that style. I made an attempt when I was putting together the book “Capoeira Arts Café:  An Academia de Capoeira” but I could not reproduce Jason’s diary. The “Capoeira Arts Café” become an extraordinary book in its own merit due to its pictures and our students writing contributions. But it ended up in a more conventional publishing format.
This morning I saw Jason’s book in the mass of books on my desk. I spent some time looking at it, and once again felt inspired by his work.  I lost his address and have long wanted to thank him. So, help me to find Jason who sent the book from Australia or New Zealand. 
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The Great Capoeira Arthur Emídio http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/the-great-capoeira-arthur-emidio http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/the-great-capoeira-arthur-emidio#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 20:44:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/the-great-capoeira-arthur-emidio/ Translation by Fogueirinha

I had been training for 5 or 6 years and was perhaps experiencing the golden years of my capoeira life. I thought there was no capoeirista who could beat me in a game. Bahia was beautiful and the center of the universe for us Bahians. Blacks and whites mingled in the narrow streets paved with hundred-year-old cobblestone. White linen suits were seen everywhere on Sundays and at plaza parties. My two-toned shoes with pointy tips were my favorite and my rusty but sharp razor rested nervously in the pocket of my bell-bottomed pants. In the absence of so many events as there are today, in the inexistence of the internet that governs us like the god of communication and in the silence of the secretive practice of capoeira which served as an essential requirement of malandragem, I felt like a samurai that had lost his master, a “ronin” in search of mortal duels in the quiet of the night. I traveled looking for the best capoeiristas.
In the north zone of Rio de Janeiro I met Arthur Emídio in the pharmacy where he worked. He had heard of me and we went to his academy together. I watched his class seated on a bench in the small room. There was a lot of excitement and capoeiristas flew doing jumps and flips I had never seen before. Arthur was a dynamo who jumped, rolled on the floor, clapped his hands, and let loose a very loud and partly falsetto “IÊÊÊ” to stop the music at the right time, which I imitated for many years. Without a doubt he was a candidate for a great duel!
The class ended and Arthur invited me to enter the roda. I played with two of his students. One left the roda limping and the other was knocked out with the help of a meia lua de compasso to the head. Arthur Emídio called me to the foot of the berimbau. The moment of the grand duel had arrived. We played for a very long time with the maldade that devoured me and made me want to play even more. Arthur did not hesitate one second. He played with a mercurial-like slipperiness that I could not touch. Every once in a while he would flip trying to hit my head but he only hit the wind of my shadow. He had given himself away when he wanted to show (or scare) me by doing two similar flips on a bag of sand during his class. After two hours the lights went out in the street. Arthur went to the pharmacy where he worked next to the academy, grabbed a few packets of candles which we lit around the roda, and we continued the “catch me if you can.” At around 2am we decided to stop. As the song goes, he did not win, and neither did I. To celebrate we had a beer at the bar on the corner.
Go with God, capoeira. One of these days we will meet again to resolve this duel.
Acordeon

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ARTHUR EMIDIO http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/arthur-emidio http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/arthur-emidio#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 17:23:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/arthur-emidio/
Eu tinha por volta de 5 ou 6 anos treinando e, talvez, estivesse vivendo o período áureo da minha capoeiragem. Eu achava que não havia capoeirista que me ganhasse no jogo. A Bahia era linda e o centro do universo para nós baianos. Negros e brancos se misturavam nas ruas estreitas e calçadas com paralelepípidos centenários. O traje de linho branco predominava nos domingos e nas festas de largo. Meu sapato de duas cores e bico fino era o meu favorito e, a navalha enferrujada mas afiada, descansava nervosa no bolso da minha calça de boca larga. Na ausência dos eventos abundantes como existem hoje em dia, na inexistência da internete que nos governa como o deus da comunicação e no silêncio da prática sigilosa da capoeira que funcionava como requisito essencial da malandragem, eu me sentia como um samurai que havia perdido seu senhor, um “ronin”em busca de duelos mortais na calada da noite. Viajei a procura dos bambas. 
Na zona norte do Rio encontrei Arthur Emídio na farmácia em que trabalhava. Ela já havia escutado a meu respeito e fomos juntos para sua academia. Assisti a aula sentado no banco da pequena sala. A animação era grande e os capoeiristas voavam em saltos que eu nunca tinha visto antes. Arthur era um dínamo que pulava, rolava no chão, batia palmas e mandava um “IÊÊÊ” muito alto e meio de falsete para parar a música no tempo certo que por muitos anos imitei. Sem dúvida era um candidato para um grande duelo!
A aula acabou e Arthur me convidou para entrar na roda. Joguei com dois alunos deles. Um saiu mancando e o outro dormiu com a ajuda de uma meia lua de compasso na cabeça. Arthur Emídio me chamou para o pé do berimbau. Havia chegado a hora do grande duelo. Jogamos durante muito tempo na maldade que me devorava e me dava ainda mais gana de jogar. Arthur não vacilou um segundo sequer. Jogou que nem um azougue o qual não pude tocar. De vez em quando ele dava um salto do nado tentando atingir minha cabeça mas, só encontrava o vento da minha sombra. Ele havia entregue o ouro ao bandido quando quiz se mostrar ou me assustar ao dar uns dois saltos semelhantes num saco de areia durante a aula. Depois de umas duas horas a luz apagou na rua. Arthur foi na farmácia em que trabalhava ao lado da academia, pegou alguns pacotes de vela que acendemos em volta da roda e continuamos o pega pra capar. La pelas 2 da  manhã decidimos parar. Como diz a cantiga, nem ele venceu nem eu. Para comemorar, fomos tomar uma geladinha num bar da esquina.
Vá com Deus, capoeira. Uma hora dessas a gente se encontra de novo para decidir nossa diferença.

Acordeon

Pequeno film francês sobre a Bahia que menciono: 


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B2B – Joga Capoeira http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/b2b-berkeley-to-bahia-by-bicycle http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/b2b-berkeley-to-bahia-by-bicycle#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 04:11:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/b2b-berkeley-to-bahia-by-bicycle/
 I am glad that you are following me because I will share insights and projects with my readers. What is of value to me is to help enrich the lives of others. Capoeira is a remarkable tool of personal transformation, and it is the chisel that I hold. The plans below resonate with the mission that has guided me throughout my capoeira career.
(O texto em Português sera apresentado brevemente)

After our 2012 Encounter & Batizado, I will start a long journey, biking from Berkeley to Bahia. One year later and 14,000 miles away, I intend to arrive in the historical plaza Terreiro de Jesus in time to celebrate my seventieth birthday and fifty-five years of capoeira in a roda. I am open to ride along requests and sponsorships.  It is essential to me that this ride and its various endeavors raise enough funds to ensure sustainability of a program for kids’ at-risk that we support in Brazil, Projeto Kirimurê (http://www.projetokirimure.org/).

My plans for this trip incorporate the following projects: 

    • Workshops and participation in capoeira events promoted by groups along the way;

 

  • To capture the many ways that capoeira has transformed the lives of capoeiristas we encounter, via interviews, filming, and recording;

 

 

  • A collaborative CD, reflecting the diverse musical and cultural backgrounds of participating capoeiristas;

 

 

  • To finish a book in progress about reflections on capoeira. Hopefully, the monotony of constant pedaling will sharpen my perception, and help me articulate thoughts that have been floating in my head for some time;

 

 

  • A documentary film that will weave old historical capoeira footage, footage from relevant cultural aspects, and that of significant moments of the ride. I want to create a work of art on par with other professional documentaries.

 

 

It may seem like nonsense for someone at may age to embark on such an undertaking. I am conscious that I have already crossed the juncture in life in which to achieve the ordinary requires the extraordinary. There is an essential part of myself driven by challenges, and the “Berkeley to Bahia by Bicycle” is my answer.
In route, confronting the difficulties of countless hours of riding, unpredictable obstacles, and my physical limitations, I want to dive into a process of introspection in which past, present and future may fuse together in a quest for self-knowledge and further meaning of capoeira. I have the personal commitment and determination to meet this challenge, and I want to emerge from it as a better person and teacher.

A major project of this sort is complex and nonlinear and is not meant to be attempted alone. It requires a diverse group of people helping in all kinds of ways. I humbly ask that all of my students and friends consider their skills and talents to see how they may contribute to this cause. It will take a team effort to make this large plan a reality.  We will need help finding capoeira schools in Central America and northern South America to determine the final route, help in finalizing the whole plan, including choice of equipment, selection of human resources (film producers, grant writers, sponsors, etc), and above all, your collective moral support.

Please, go to the discussion area of this page and lets brainstorm to develop a realistic schedule. Submissions should be entered under proper topics already in place. It will be useful if you let us know who you are, what is your field of expertise, and how you may contribute. My sincere hope is that this collaboration will only deepen and enhance the relationship of all of us to capoeira as a global art form. Let’s join forces to make this happen in its full potential!

More to come soon.

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More About my Book Água de Beber in Portuguese http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/more-about-my-book-agua-de-beber-in-portuguese http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/more-about-my-book-agua-de-beber-in-portuguese#comments Sat, 11 Dec 2010 01:03:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/more-about-my-book-agua-de-beber-in-portuguese/ Recentemente escrevi no Facebook que havia relido meu livro Água de Beber: Um bate papo de Capoeira e, confessei que havia gostado; que fiquei emocionado ao desdobrar suas páginas e que deveria relê-lo muitas vezes para aprender o que desaprendi. Penso assim e vou compartilhar um pouco deste livro com vocês. Começarei com os escritos do Mestre Itapoan, João Coelho, Mestre Decânio e Mestre Nestor Capoeira que generosamente fizeram comentários nas orelhas e contracapa do livro.
Eram os anos 6o, mais precisamente 1964, entrei na Academia do Mestre Bimba e comecei a sentir o que representava Acordeon  para nós alunos. Bira já era uma figura singular: capoeirista excelente, batia, derrubava, gingava legal e tocava berimbau como poucos, enfim um legítimo representante da Regional. Convivi com ele 15 anos, na Academia do Mestre Bimba e na minha Ginga Associação de Capoeira. A trajetória de Bira é de uma pessoa totalmente absorvida pela Capoeira. Depois de anos mostrando o que aprendeu e desenvolveu por aqui foi, por circunstâncias tantas, morar nos EUA, mais precisamente em São Francisco, talvez porque lá as saudades da Bahia não seriam tantas, já que esta Cidade lembra muito a velha Salvador. Era de se esperar que o “Banzo” o levasse a produzir um livro como este, ” Água de Beber, Camará! ” é um verdadeiro retôrno de Bira à sua terra, seu povo. Recheado de personagens da Capoeira, esta “ficção realística”, se assim podemos chamar, o traz de volta. “Viajei” na leitura, me vi dentro da narrativa e acho que todos que entendem um pouco de Bahia e de Capoeira sentirão o mesmo. É muito bom saber que Bira/Acordeon, meu irmão espiritual, não perdeu a sua condição de conhecedor profundo da nossa arte de lutar. E, sabe Bira, como o mundo ”é redondo, como a Roda”,  qualquer dia a gente se vê por aí. Quando você foi, apenas confirmou os versos do poeta: “Todo artista tem que ir onde o povo está”, e se foi assim, assim será, sempre. 
Axé !
Cesar Itapoan
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Prezado Bira
Recebi seu livro na sexta, pelo correio. Terminei ontem de rele-lo e confirmei  a sensação de que é a narrativa de um caminho de formação individual traçado ao longo de praticas, preceitos, exemplos e orientações que tem identidade própria: a capoeira. Não só a singularidade da capoeira transparece, mas também o seu caráter de ligação entre todos estes elementos, voltados para a formação do capoeirista, do  indivíduo.
Eh uma grande emoção constatar essa unidade e ver nascer diante dos olhos o desenho de uma tradição brasileira de raizes africanas que não pediu licença a ninguêm e continua provendo um caminho de formação individual a quem a procura.
Capoeira é tudo que a boca come, é maldade. Entendendo que as visões de Pastinha e Bimba sobre capoeira não se contradizem é que podemos entender o perfil desta arte em nossa sociedade. Por ter nascido da vida e das reflexões de um capoeirista, o livro vem integrar-se e tambem complementar a tradição da capoeira, documentando de forma original o seu universo simbólico e mostrando a formação de um indivíduo neste universo. O encontro do indivíduo com este universo é contado  com carinho, poesia, alegria e a generosidade característica de um mestre.  O fio da história individual é enlaçado ao fio da tradição.  Capoeira, se pode ver, ficou  inscrita na carne e na alma…
João Coelho
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Gostei muito do texto de Acordeon e, se isto fosse  possível, passei a gostar mais ainda do próprio Acordeon, por que neste “booklet” o Mestre retratou sua própria alma, vivência, sonhos e o caminho percorrido nesta encarnação, o qual venho acompanhando de perto.  Livro rico em ambigüidades… verdades mentirosas e mentiras verdadeiras… ficções reais e realidades fictícias… sonhos vividos e vida sonhada… tal como o Mestre Acordeon! 
“Receber um golpe é falha de defesa, assim como acertar-se um oponente quando não se tiver esta intenção é falha de ataque… Capoeira não é uma roupa a ser vestida em determinado momento ou de acordo com a ocasião. Capoeira é a própria pele.” 
Alma de poeta… Espírito de samurai… Corpo de gladiador… Pensamento de Mestre Zen… Vontade de ferro … Coração de criança… Couraça ouriçada de espinhos… Sentimentos angelicais… Capaz de matar ou morrer… Pronto a chorar ou a rir… com a mesma espontaneidade da criança! Livre e intangível como o vento, como a própria capoeira!
Axé Acordeon!
Salvador, 20 de Maio de 1999
Decanio
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Na década de 1960, o jovem Bira Almeida influenciou toda uma geração – justamente a que iria divulgar a capoeira no Brasil e exterior – com seu espírito de iniciativa e seu estilo de jogo. Trinta anos passaram; Bira Almeida – Mestre Acordeon – foi morar e ensinar nos Estados Unidos e se tornou um marco e uma referência no mundo da capoeiragem. Ele nos devia este livro. um livro com a fluidez, leveza, generosidade, força e carisma que sempre caracterizaram seu jogo. Um livro indispensável para o capoeirista, surpreendente e fascinante para os que se interessam pela construção de uma identidade brasileira.
Nestor
Rio, 18 de maio de 99
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Fabricio http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/30 http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/30#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2006 17:11:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/30/
Some time ago I placed a little article on our web site called “My Friend Fabricio”. While in Bahia last month, I called Fabricio to ask him for one picture to be included at the formados’ gallery at the Mestre Bimba Foundation. Immediately Dr. Fabricio Vasconcellos Soares attended my request despite his busy schedule as president of the universidade Unibahia. He told me he had several pictures with Mestre Bimba, including the ones that were published on the cover of the historical album “Capoeira Regional”.

A few hours later I received one of his portraits for the gallery and a disc labeled “fotos”. Only now I looked at the CD of pictures. Among them is one in which the Mestre is holding Fabricio’s hands, a typical stance Bimba took while teaching the ginga. To hold the hands of the new student was one of the foundations of his Capoeira Regional. In all of the pictures, Mestre Bimba exudes his powerful persona, wisdom, and elegance.

In these times when I am so immersed into Bimba’s capoeira, I could not help but becoming emotional with the photos. Thank you, Fabricio. These pictures immortalise you as the great capoeirista you were.

My Friend Fabricio.

Fabricio and I had been friends since childhood and he always was a source of inspiration for me. When Fabricio decided to do magic and charge 15 cents to the neighborhood kids for magic shows, I was his loyal assistant. When Fabricio started to study hypnotism, I too began to put all the volunteers–usually trusting old women–to sleep. When Fabricio went to business school, I went to business school. It was not a case of simple imitation, but rather a genuine affinity. One thing we did differently. Fabricio studied karate in Bahia, a pioneering venture at the time, while I concentrated on Capoeira.

Naturally, later on, Fabricio joined me in studying Capoeira, and he used to come at 5:30 in the morning to train, anxious to learn everything as fast as he could. And he learned and became a good Capoeirista. His picture is even on the back cover of Mestre Bimba’s album.

What most impressed Fabricio in Karate was the picture of a Karate master with his right hand crumpling the massive belly of a bull in a deadly attack. Fabricio trained hard to perfect this movement. Cardboard, plywood, and even my mother’s dearest plants could not withstand his startling attacks. Ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times he would stab his fingers into a box of sand, training tirelessly to kill a bull.

One summer day Fabricio and I were going up the Ladeira do Nordeste de Amaralina for a batizado party at Mestre Bimba’s school. That batisado day, Fabricio had his big chance. On top of the Amaralina hill, he saw–not a bull, but an enormous pig eating a huge mountain of garbage. As soon as I saw the pig, I exclaimed, “Fabricio, this is it! Charge!” Fabricio looked at the animal, enthralled, but as a good Capoeirista he also noticed the crowd of brawny domino players standing by the door of a liquor store. I read his thoughts: “If I kill the pig, those guys will jump me.” I didn’t let him talk, saying quickly, “Don’t worry, Fabricio. I’m with you. Whatever will be, will be.” Fabricio had the utmost confidence in my backup in the moment of necessity. He breathed deeply, gauged the distance, and with a blood-curdling yell, flew through the air and towards the pig. It was a very powerful movement-the best he could do. With one eye on the pig, one eye on the domino players, I was frozen, goosebumps on my neck, ready for action. Fabricio’s iron fingers reached the pig’s belly as he roared, riveting everyone’s eyes on the spectacle.

And the pig? The pig took the deadly attack to its gut without even looking at Fabricio, or interrupting its meal. Fabricio did not understand. He stood looking at his finger–and at the pig, placidly munching garbage. The domino players looked at each other and shrugged. Poor Fabricio, so much training for nothing. He never set foot in a Karate studio again.

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Um Berimbau e Dois Pandeiros http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/um-berimbau-e-dois-pandeiros http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/um-berimbau-e-dois-pandeiros#comments Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:49:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/um-berimbau-e-dois-pandeiros/
A Tribute to Mestre Bimba

I received this question in a recent e-mail and I will address it before leaving to Brazil tomorrow at 6 AM.

Question: Why you do not teach in the same way that Mestre Bimba used to teach and why you do not record singing like him?

In fact, TODAY I have just finished the mixing of a new CD, “Um Berimbau e Dois Pandeiros”, an homage to the distinctively simple, powerful style of Mestre Bimba. The path to this new CD, and my relationship to my old mestre, is not straight and narrow. Let me begin with an analogy.

My fascination with the berimbau began about 40 years ago. I don’t recall how it happened but, suddenly, the berimbau became part of my daily life. Some time later, I felt unhappy with the construction of the berimbau and, not sure about just one gourd, I tried to make a berimbau with two of them. Then, not satisfied with the bow tightened by just one steel wire, I tried three strings instead. Finally, suspicious of the simple manila string holding the steel wire taut, I tried the precision of violin pegs and guitar keys, finally ending up with a custom-made tune cone crafted by Mr. Ariosto—a lathe master with a shop near where Gigante used to make atabaques for the afoxé , Filhos de Gandhi. Years passed, and after many complicated attempts to improve the berimbau, I returned to the original: a bow of beriba wood in its simple elegance.

I have a funny feeling that a similar experience happened with my capoeira. Years ago, I began to feel uneasy about the training at Mestre Bimba’s school. I started analyzing the classes, the practice of the sequencias, and the kind of jogos we played. I pursued this with extreme diligence, recording the exact number of times we trained each movement in class. I proceeded to create a new method of training—a kind of a berimbau with three strings and two gourds. Much later, I realized my foolishness was transforming the training system in a pale imitation of Tae Kwon Do, producing an aesthetic very different from what I’d learned at the Centro de Cultura Fisica Regional, the school of Mestre Bimba. This realization stunned me. From that point on, I was careful not to indulge myself in ideas of embellishing, improving, or making capoeira “more efficient” or “more modern.” Similarly, I have restrained myself from forcing capoeira into a “more traditional” and politically correct African-Brazilian art form.

In my capoeira journey, I have often been asked why I do not teach in the same way as my master. I always answer that I do not have the charisma of Mestre Bimba, much less his capacity for teaching in a markedly characteristic way. Frankly, I think I was inhibited about teaching “Capoeira Regional” while its creator was still alive. And, like his contemporaries, Bimba did not ask his graduates to teach capoeira in his name, or that they create affiliated schools identified by colorful logos. In his evocative style of teaching, Bimba inspired my own attempt to develop new approaches and postures of teaching. This initiative proved essential to my personal development, both in the capoeiragem and in real life. Yet I have never ceased to draw on the joyful, challenging ways of Mestre Bimba’s teaching. Recently, I have been emphasizing his “primitive” and powerful capoeira which, interestingly, generates a sophisticated sparseness of contemporaneity. More and more, I have found myself using the rhythm of São Bento Grande de Regional played by just one berimbau and two pandeiros for the entirety of a two-hour class. As it turns out, this toque de berimbau is crucial for helping students learn a proper cadence for the ginga.

A few days ago I was ready to record a new CD with my students. Just before the session, I dropped my favorite gourd, knocking a big piece out of its belly that needed to be glued back. It now has a long circular scar in its old body, giving it more dignity and character. Yet I considered the accident a bad sign and postponed the recording to another day. This CD will be my 10th musical recording, not counting DVDs, soundtracks, and other projects in which I have used the berimbau. In several of these recordings, I’ve hinted at Bimba’s Regional music without entirely pleasing my friends who’ve asked for a full recording in Mestre Bimba’s style. In fact, I do not consider myself—or anyone—competent to record such a CD exclusively in the way of the Mestre because I witnessed at close quarters the extraordinary force he was able to generate. In addition, his own masterpiece, Curso de Capoeira Regional—recorded in the sixties—constituted a historic moment in capoeira, consecrating Bimba as a consummate vocalist and musician. So I will not be the one to try to imitate him!

But I’ve decided to ginga a little bit in this roda. As I rediscovered the wisdom of Bimba as a mestre de capoeira, and as I rediscovered the sonority and purity of the berimbau’s popular shape, so have I reencountered the incomparable power of Mestre Bimba’s music after nearly half a century. In tribute, Um Berimbau e Dois Pandeiros will feature just one berimbau, two pandeiros, and vocals in the unique manner of the true Capoeira Regional: the Capoeira of Bimba.

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A New Year’s Resolution http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/a-new-years-resolution http://www.mestreacordeon.com/all/a-new-years-resolution#comments Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:38:00 +0000 Mestre Acordeon http://mindbodyflo.com/mestre/a-new-years-resolution/
Like the blues and jazz, Capoeira is a rich hybrid art form – an extraordinary product of the confluence of African cultures in the Americas that crosses the gamut of race, class, culture and gender. Today in Brazil, Capoeira is considered a cultural treasure, a potent means of self-expression, and a dynamic tool for personal growth. It has long proven to have the ability to positively affect the lives of many.

Capoeira has progressively been established outside Brazil as an art that, in the words of one of my students, Contramestre Jordan, “when sensitively taught can become a powerful tool for awakening individuals to their greatest potentials and can serve as a vehicle for social reconciliation and a practical model for meaningful collaboration.”

I have been in capoeira for a long time, not only as a practitioner with an extensive trajectory, but also as an author, recorded musician, performer, and above all, a mestre de capoeira. I decided to begin this blog in order to answer some of the questions that I frequently receive through e-mails, as well as because I want to reflect on some of my own questions regarding capoeira. I intend to start this new adventure very slow but with the hope that it will develop as a solid jogo in a good roda. Please be patient.

Axé to all.

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