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About Capoeira Angola

Capoeira Angola, a Brazilian martial art that blends dance, acrobatics, and music, deeply rooted in African traditions. Originating in the 16th century, Capoeira was developed by enslaved Africans in Brazil as a means of physical and cultural self-defense.

Characterized by fluid, rhythmic movements, Capoeira emphasizes agility, strategy, and improvisation. Practitioners, known as capoeiristas, engage in a playful yet competitive exchange of attacks and evasions within a roda (circle), accompanied by traditional instruments like the berimbau (a single-string percussion instrument), atabaque (drum), and pandeiro (tambourine).

Beyond its physical aspects, Capoeira embodies resistance, resilience, and community, serving as a cultural expression of Afro-Brazilian identity. Over the centuries, it has evolved from an outlawed practice to a celebrated art form recognized worldwide. Today, Capoeira is taught and practiced globally, fostering connections across cultures while preserving its rich heritage.

In Bellingham, classes are taught by Matteo Tamburini, student of Mestre Silvinho. Matteo has been practicing Capoeira for over 15 years and was recognized as a Treinel (one who has the capacity to teach) at the 2019 International Capoeira Angola Foundation conference.

I am humbled to be entrusted with this responsibility, and in my role as caretaker I do my best to teach what Mestre Silvinho has taught me, while continuing to deepen my own understanding and learning.

Capoeira has changed my life for the better in radical ways, and it has helped me reconnect with my own ancestral roots in Italy and Ireland, as well as informed my understanding of my place in a profoundly racist society such as our own.

An echo of the past: Bellingham's oldest remaining Berimbau?

I have heard rumors that there was some organized Capoeira in Bellingham before the beginning of its current incarnation with Ben Lockwood, Holly Polinkus and Elese Watness back in the fall of 2007. Maybe even before Skya Fisher moved to Bellingham in 2002 and taught a class at the YWCA.

For example, a friend recalled a Capoeira demonstration at Ferndale High School in the early 2000s. 

But there was no evidence left, only vague hearsay - until now:

A friend lives at the Oasis community house in Bellingham, and told me that there was a berimbau lying around. We finally connected and I was able to retrieve it. 

The berimbau itself definitely needed some love: I replaced the leather cap at the top, healed a crack in the cabaca with some wood glue... but it's still useable! And now it finally has a home where it can hang and relax.

Who used to own this berimbau? My friend has heard that it was someone whose name was possibly Jason, a previous resident of the Oasis, who practiced Capoeira. 

Who was this person? what kind of Capoeira did they train? who did they train with? who was their teacher? when were they training? (for reference, Mestre Jurandir came to Seattle at the invitation of Charles Hargrett in 1997) who made the berimbau? what kind of wood is it?

The pandemic and the BREATHE act.

Well, obviously we are not training indoors at the moment, or in the foreseeable future. We are doing some physically distanced outdoor music and movement.

Movement: of our bodies, and for Black Lives and our collective liberation. Check out the BREATHE act. 

The roda teaches us that to get anything done we need to act collectively; that our relationships matter; that we should listen and learn from one another. Can we take those skills into the roda of life?

‘Dentro da boca fechada

mosca nunca vai entrar’

é um ditado do meu povo

que sabe que nada vai mudar.

Capoeira nos ensina

pra mudar realidade

uma voz nao adianta nada

so com a coletividade.

O calado é vencedor,

assim diz velho ditado,

se os calados se juntarem

mundo vai ser derrubado!

Black History Month 2020

Among the many suggestions for reading and reflection that could be shared, I have recently been struck by the project Songs of our native daughters.

The liner notes can be downloaded for free from the smithsonian, and they are a fantastic resource.

Much like another recording from the Smithsonian Folways, Capoeira Angola: from Salvador Brasil by Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho, whose liner notes can also be downloaded for free.

This is a video with some reflections from the four women who participated in the project Songs of our native daughters.

And this is a video of GCAP from 1991 - a classic!

homework over winter break

There's always some more work to do...

Best wishes for 2020!

Fall 2019

We're back!

Mondays at 6pm in VU room 464