Thank you Mestre Silvinho and Caitlin for coming to Bellingham to train with us and help us grow in the art!
During his workshop, Mestre mentioned percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. Below is a video displaying his amazing use of the berimbau.
Mestre Silvinho was in Bellingham to do a series of workshops organized by Kuntz and Co. His visit was covered by the Western Front and by the Cascadia Weekly, which unfortunately included a picture of another artist.
Come join us for Bellingham's fifth annual Afro-Brasilian Festival - a
day of music, dance, and community featuring, samba, west african
dance, and capoeira angola!
Saturday, May 31st
WWU, Carver Gym D
9am: registration and welcome
10am: Capoeira Angola class with Treinel Daniel and Mestre Silvinho
12pm: Capoeira Angola kids class with Mestre Silvinho
1pm: samba class with Dora Oliveira
2pm: Capoeira Angola music class with Treinel Daniel
3pm: West African Dance with Manimou Camara
4pm: Capoeira Angola roda
6pm: dinner
Free for students. For the public: $5 for any and all classes, $10 for
the dinner
There was an overview of the event in the AS Review of 5/27.
The WWU student newspaper just published a new feature about our group.
There are (inevitably) a few inaccuracies. To get a better picture of who we are and what we do (and to give due to our teachers) you might want to watch the video about FICA posted below.
In Capoeira Angola, the bateria (i.e. the percussion ensemble) includes three berimbaus (which are Brazilian instruments with African roots, not Portuguese instruments), an atabaque (a large drum - which is NOT the same as a djembe: djembes are African, but when slaves were brought to the Americas they could not find the same kind of tree that djembes are carved out of), two pandeiros (which in English we would call tambourines), a reco-reco (the same principle as a washboard, but made from canes or hollowed wood) and an agogo (a pair of cowbells).
There's also a photo gallery (with some ADORABLE pictures of Ben with Nyah and Carys) and a video.
A shout-out goes to Keith Doran, who teaches West African Drumming classes here in Bellingham for playing djembe during the roda in the video!
The music in the video is Mestre Moraes, singing :"ponha la, vaqueiro, ponha jaleco de couro"
A couple of inaccuracies in the video:
The "zebra dance" is actually an African ritual, from which capoeira draws at least some of its roots - it is not a specifically Brasilian thing. During the course of the slave trade, people were intentionally mixed so that they could not communicate with one another and so organize and rebel. Of course, many rebellions DID occur regardless of this, but specific practices did not have a large community to support them, so traditions of different African groups mixed with one another and with the local culture.
And be sure: while many (most?) capoeira angola are meant to be friendly and non-contact, there are certainly times when the fighting is real. Not at our practices perhaps, but out there in the wide world of rodas it's a different story!
The WWU student newspaper (which has been very generous in their coverage of our group) has an article in the Tuesday April 12 edition, as well as a multimedia audio/slideshow piece on their blog.
Please note that we meet on MONDAYS, not Thursdays as it says in the article.
We are a study group of the International Capoeira Angola Foundation (ICAF) Northwest Chapter, under the guidance of Mestre Silvinho. We are located in Bellingham (WA) Contact us for more details!
