Capoeira is more than just a sport to which music is indispensable. It is also a philosophy of life, rooted in fundamentals that speak of freedom and knowing oneself.

Capoeiristas are also musicians, for they sing and play the berimbau, caxixi, pandeiro, agogo, atabaque and reco-reco. The melodies can be rhyming prose, or songs with or without refrains.

Colorful names like samba-de-roda, corrido, ladainha, chula, oracoes and bendicoes describe the interplay of voices that go with the interplay of movement by participants in a capoeira roda.

We generally observe, in the discourse and teachings of angola mestres, some emphasis on the preservation of tradition and the fundamentals of Angola-style capoeira. Among these we would highlight, as examples, respect, justice, humility and patience.

All of these virtues can be seen in full bloom in the organization of the ritual (the capoeira circle, or roda) in which considerable pains are taken to reproduce the specific knowledge and language characteristic of the Angola style of capoeira. Let us now join the circle...

"...practically every object, every gesture, song or prayer, or slice of space and time is accepted on faith as something other than itself. It is more than it appears to be, and often, quite a lot more."  - Turner, 1974:29