Capoeira is an ancient martial art which started in Brazil in 1600s, i mean the slavery period. The slaves who were brought from Africa were not allowed to practice any martial arts. It was strictly forbidden and there was a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE punishment for all those people who train martial arts. So, those people mixed the martial art with all the dance figures and the music so that they could say: "This is not a fucking martial art you fuckface noob ass portuguese idiotic son of a bitch. This is our cultural dance, and if you sir white-ass son of a big-boobed-good-lookin-and-good-fuckin bitch, i want to invoke my culture". There were a LOT of precautions in capoeira against portuguese slave-masters.
1- Dance and music. 2- The concept of 'Roda'. Again, for those fuckface noobs out there, Roda is the human circle. Inside that circle, 2 people invoke the martial art of capoeira along with all the dance figures. The people who form the circle always clap and sing the song together. 3- Watchers. If they notice some white face coming nearby, they warn the people who play the ancient rhythm instruments, and they play a special rhythm called Cavalaria. Playing cavalaria means "All right guys, this is fucking it. White-ass people are coming by, so stop capoeira and gtfo of this place.
Actually it was just precaution #1 until capoeira as a dance was banned by a stupid law too. #2 came afterwards. Slaves who learned and mastered the art of capoeira got the fuck out of portuguese cities, went to the jungles, and lived in places called queilombos. They further trained the art, then some went to cities to get other slaves train capoeira and those who start training in cities go to queilombos afterwards and further train there and so on.
After all that part, slaves start a riot and win their freedom through a hard-fought battle in 1888. After all slaves win their freedom, they found nothing to do. Most of them had no job and no money, and also they were potential criminals because they know capoeira and can beat the shit out of most of the people in Brazil. Some became bodyguards for politicians and other rich people, some worked in other jobs, but rest became criminals. So capoeira was again banned by brazilian government. Later, some guy named Sampio, who was actually a chief police officer and a master in capoeira had his men to train capoeira and kick the shit out of all those criminals. Afterwards, Mestre Bimba (Mestre means Master in Brazilian portuguese founded a capoeira academy, presented capoeira as an art to president, and the law which banned capoeira was off the hoop. Today, there are 2 basic disciplines of capoeira: Angola, the ancient discipline. Pretty slow and based on mind games rather than strong kicks. Brought to today by one and only Mestre Pastinha; and Regional, the current discipline. Much faster compared to Angola, strong kicks involved, pretty cool flips etc.
Oh yeah, and the music. There are a few basic instruments who have 2-3 different sounds and play only the rhythm.
Berimbau, the best, most important and most difficult one. Dictates the game tempo and all the other part of the orchestra. There are 3 berimbaus in a capoeira orchestra with 3 different sounds. Sound of berimbau is determined by something called cabaça and there are 3 different types of cabaça out there.
Fuck yeah. I saw capoeira first time when i was 11 or 12, and it was Tekken 3. Yeah yeah, the infamous Eddy Gordo. But i could find a place who teaches capoeira at the age of 17, and had the opportunity to join there at the age of 18 (last October, to be more precise). And i had my capoeira nickname (which is Lobo, meaning Wolf) and my first belt last month. I train at Grupo Muzenza Capoeira at Turkey, METU to be more precise.
So yeah, any questions, comments, any other nerds who train capoeira here ?!
I think it's in the Roots of the Dance Fight Game that Mestre Nestor says that capoeira's origins among slaves are pretty solid, but then goes on to say that the idea that capoeira had a really significant part in them winning their freedom is just fanciful...
It's so sad though, that's always been the most romantic part of it.
I have to get back to it, but at the moment I'm just running to get myself into some kind of meaningful shape. Nothing like going back to capoeira with dreadful fitness to make you feel awful about yourself and play poorly :/
Since MetalWing didn't include a video, here's a capoeira video I like a lot (ignore the music)
Probably you shouldn't say 'fuckface noobs' so often. It makes you seem like you're kind of a jerk
So, those people mixed the martial art with all the dance figures and the music so that they could say: "This is not a fucking martial art you fuckface noob ass portuguese idiotic son of a bitch. This is our cultural dance, and if you sir white-ass son of a big-boobed-good-lookin-and-good-fuckin bitch, i want toinvoke my culture
Lol, I hardly think the slave masters of the 17th century cared about African culture...
I few years ago a Capo instructor started giving lessons at my University (Western Michigan U.). A club formed around it and they performed at a lot of major events, practiced on the school track, and sometimes had a few bouts in the middle of campus to advertise. The lessons were $50 for a month, and being with little money I never went for it. Last march I went to a self-defense meeting for residence life staff and it was none other than a free, hourlong capo introduction. It was really fun! If they have a similar club like that at grad school I'll be tempted to give it a shot!
On July 15 2010 04:43 niteReloaded wrote: I gained a lot of respect for capoeira when I heard Anderson Silva trains/ed it.
LOL
Hope you are sarcastic, he only did some for fun, he's got like a beginners belt in capoeira. I don't think any known MMA fighter would want to waste his precious time with this.
With the risk of potentially being called a fuckface noob...I don't see why anyone who is actually serious about taking up a combat sport would take this dancing bs over muay thai, bjj, western boxing, wrestling, etc... But it does look like a good workout; no fatass could probably pull any of those moves off.
On July 15 2010 04:43 niteReloaded wrote: I gained a lot of respect for capoeira when I heard Anderson Silva trains/ed it.
LOL
Hope you are sarcastic, he only did some for fun, he's got like a beginners belt in capoeira. I don't think any known MMA fighter would want to waste his precious time with this.
I wasn't being sarcastic, but glad I made you LOL.
On July 15 2010 06:53 lvatural wrote: I don't see why anyone who is actually serious about taking up a combat sport would take this dancing bs over muay thai, bjj, western boxing, wrestling, etc...
Because this is probably at least 10X more enjoyable, while not completely worthless.
So, unless you're serious about getting good as a fighter for whatever reason, capoeira seems like a good discipline to train.
Sorry Metalwing, what I mean by legit is more in line with
a.) Being proven in top competition against other martial arts in top organizations b.) Consistency in wins c.) Producing top contenders, or being an art in which top contenders train.
so for a.) Wins against top fighters from people like K-1/UFC/ as those organizations are seen as the premier organizations (K-1 for striking, UFC overall). Whats important about these two orgs is its not 1 style only (so you can get a karate guy vs kickboxer, not just shotokan karate vs kyokushin (sp) karate) Your first and 3rd videos look to be in-house capoeira only tournaments, not effecitve to evaluate a martial art. I could probably link a video to Bob's Tai Chi tournament showing him Ki-striking the fuck out of people, doesn't make it legit. Your 2nd vid was more 'legit', so good job.
b.) One or two wins dont mean anything, does the fighter who trains in that specific art constantly beat high quality opponents? Does he fight the best opponents in an organization? Did he ever fight for the championship? etc. I know Karate gets a lot of hate from MMA sometimes, but at least they can point to Lyoto Machida (UFC), or Andy Hug (K-1) to generate some argument.
c.) If the top fighters train a specific art, chances are its more legit. Thats why in the UFC you see people training Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, BJJ, as those have produced observable results. Coversely, thats why you don't see fighters boasting they trained in Ninjitsu, Tai Chi, Drunken Boxing,etc as the reason for their success.
Holy shit now I want to see a Druken Boxer dominate everyone. It'd be so great. Too bad it'll never happen.
On July 15 2010 06:59 pokeyAA wrote: Sorry Metalwing, what I mean by legit is more in line with
a.) Being proven in top competition against other martial arts in top organizations b.) Consistency in wins c.) Producing top contenders, or being an art in which top contenders train.
so for a.) Wins against top fighters from people like K-1/UFC/ as those organizations are seen as the premier organizations (K-1 for striking, UFC overall). Whats important about these two orgs is its not 1 style only (so you can get a karate guy vs kickboxer, not just shotokan karate vs kyokushin (sp) karate) Your first and 3rd videos look to be in-house capoeira only tournaments, not effecitve to evaluate a martial art. I could probably link a video to Bob's Tai Chi tournament showing him Ki-striking the fuck out of people, doesn't make it legit. Your 2nd vid was more 'legit', so good job.
b.) One or two wins dont mean anything, does the fighter who trains in that specific art constantly beat high quality opponents? Does he fight the best opponents in an organization? Did he ever fight for the championship? etc. I know Karate gets a lot of hate from MMA sometimes, but at least they can point to Lyoto Machida (UFC), or Andy Hug (K-1) to generate some argument.
c.) If the top fighters train a specific art, chances are its more legit. Thats why in the UFC you see people training Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, BJJ, as those have produced observable results. Coversely, thats why you don't see fighters boasting they trained in Ninjitsu, Tai Chi, Drunken Boxing,etc as the reason for their success.
Holy shit now I want to see a Druken Boxer dominate everyone. It'd be so great. Too bad it'll never happen.
You don't see stuff like ninjitsu in MMA because their moves are illegal in official fights. I don't know enough about this, but it's possible that a quality ninjitsu practitioner would be the favorite to win a street fight vs a standard MMA figher.
I'm sorry nite but you couldnt be more wrong. Please dont get caught up in the 'mystique' of some martial arts. Unless the Ninjitsu guy comes with a weapon, I'm pretty certain he'd get his ass beat in a one-sided affair. The only chance the Ninjitsu guy has is:
a.) Kick to the balls b.) Eye Gouge c.) Small joint manipulation
There's nothing else in the technique in Ninjitsu that could beat an MMA fighter. And if the Ninjitsu fighter does beat the MMA fighter using a.) or b.), I would say its not the martial art coming into play here, cuz I'm pretty sure most people can kick to the balls, eye gouge without years of training. Its not like there's an advanced gonad striking course in martial art schools these days (minus Krav Maga lol).
Sorry, dont mean to derail the thread. Dont want to rag on Capoeria, I played the shit out of Eddy Gordo too in Tekken :D. I just wanted to point out that while I find it very entertaining, its probably not the most effective fighting style. Thats it.
On July 15 2010 07:26 pokeyAA wrote: The only chance the Ninjitsu guy has is:
a.) Kick to the balls b.) Eye Gouge c.) Small joint manipulation
Sorry, dont mean to derail the thread. Dont want to rag on Capoeria, I played the shit out of Eddy Gordo too in Tekken :D. I just wanted to point out that while I find it very entertaining, its probably not the most effective fighting style. Thats it.
Hey now, let's not forget fish-hooking. He could tear the shit out of someone's cheek!
On a serious note though, too many people get very caught up in the combat effectiveness of their martial art or whatever. The fact is that, as someone who spent years playing capoeira, and truly loves it... I don't care whether or not it makes me some kind of perfect fighting machine.
It means I'm a generally agile, flexibly lad. I have far better rhythm, better control over my own body and the fact is that, as you said, it's fantastically entertaining. Full of life lessons, all the usual jazz that you'd normally get from a martial art.
The other thing I love about it is the simple philosophies behind it. Small stuff, the little tips you pick up from guys playing years... it's the same kind of atmosphere, but instead of demolishing one another, you're working together to build a dialogue. It's a pleasant pursuit.
I did tae kwon do for about two years previous, and enjoyed that too, but by comparison I've found that capoeira feels a bit more... wholesome might be the wrong word, but earthy wouldn't be far off either. There's an excellent feeling of community and a search for fun in there. Sometimes games get "hot," nasty kicks get thrown, people lose teeth or whatever, but at its core, the game is the same, the reflexes are the same.
Sorry, I don't mean to be so effusive. It's something I love
I can respect that, I just like people getting another perspective on things and realizing the limitations/strengths of their art. For example, I love Muay Thai, but I'm the first to admit I'd get my ass kicked on the ground. I'd get manhandled and choked out in a minute against a dedicated wrestler/bjj guy. Then I meet people from other striking arts who go 'LOLZ, I'D JUST ELBOW THEM IN THE BACK IF THEY TRY TAKEDOWNS, GRAPPLING SUCKS'. Or I'd debate some points in striking with them, and when I spar them, they're freaking horrible.
Case in point, a TKD guy telling me leg kicks don't work/are useless. It took 1-2 shins to his legs to get him to reconsider his stance.
It seems like 90% of martial artists love to theorycraft, but don't like sparring lol.
c.) If the top fighters train a specific art, chances are its more legit. Thats why in the UFC you see people training Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, BJJ, as those have produced observable results. Coversely, thats why you don't see fighters boasting they trained in Ninjitsu, Tai Chi, Drunken Boxing,etc as the reason for their success.
Well, of course you don't see those successfully trained in ninjitsu. That's kind of the point of ninjitsu.
On July 15 2010 06:57 niteReloaded wrote: Because this is probably at least 10X more enjoyable, while not completely worthless.
What makes Capoeira "less worthless" than western boxing, bjj, muay thai, etc...? I'd explain but after your little opinion on a ninjutsu artist having the ability to be #1 in UFC...i'll pass.
I think the art is good if you just want some exercise, but as an actual form of combat...there are much better alternatives imo.
Edit: For you guys who want to see actual art vs. art...try watching the earlier UFC (like UFC 1). That was pretty much real mortal combat where art form vs. art form went head to head. Pure TKD, Karate, Sumo, BJJ, Wrestler, Boxers, etc... Also there were no weight classes and less restrictions (allowed to kick groin and pull hair). Hell, if I remember correctly there was a match between a 400 lb. sumo vs. some 200 lb. karate guy. The winner was a relatively small (6'2" 170lb.) bjj guy. He pretty much submitted every guy in less than a minute. Joyce Gracie i think...that's why BJJ is such a popular art to learn today...he brought it out as a legitimate style.
capoeira is a very fun art and I practiced it for close to 6 years. I was a lot younger back then but still remember most of the things I had learned. It is quite true that capoeira is not a very useful fighting art, but it is a beautiful thing to watch, and the experience of being in a circle, playing the music, singing the songs and playing in the middle are all very fond memories. this is something that many people can enjoy, and is certainly a complex and difficult art. It fun..
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.frikipedia.es/images/7/7f/Berimbau-labels.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://jakobmjensen.dk/musikkurser/historie/etno/res/pandeiro.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.myzik.fr/FCK/image/atabaque.jpg)
(ignore the music)
