|
Mestre Waldemar do Pero Vaz, besides making the best berimbaus in Bahia, is a great capoeirista among the top experts of the past, having played with Pastinha, Bimba, Totonho Marê, and so many others. Today he only plays on Sundays, when – wearing white shoes, white pants, a plaid shirt, gold rings and watch – he returns to the old days of his favorite sport. He talks enthusiastically about capoeira, without speaking badly of any capoeirista, without speaking badly of anyone. These days he has exchanged capoeira for the berimbau, which he makes with much care and affection, and challenges: "They’re the best in Bahia, yes ma'am, and I bet that I can beat any capoeirista or berimbau player in playing or singing." |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Salvador. Mestre Waldemar's capoeira is found on Pero Vaz Street in the neighborhood of Liberdade. Capoeira has been played in Brazil since the last century. Its roots are African and it was introduced in Brazil by the Bantu slaves from Angola. Its effectiveness as a "real fight" has already been sufficiently proved. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Mestre Waldemar was born in 1916 and died in 1990, trapped in the same destiny of the old mestres of Bahian capoeira who live on the crossroads between fame and hunger. As in the case of other old mestres, Waldemar's family couldn't afford his burial. The money for the coffin and other items was donated by students and public organizations. Mestre Pastinha also warned about this contradiction in 1981: "Bahian capoeira is at a high point in the 'market,' while the main mestres who maintain its tradition, such as myself, die in a state of severe poverty." |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Capoeira, despite being widely known and practiced today (not only in Brazil, but in dozens of other countries), was once severely repressed and even considered a crime. The prison sentences, exiles, and other punishments for capoeiristas are well-documented in the literature that describes capoeira in the 19th century, especially in Rio de Janeiro. Such actions were not just isolated events, but part of the policy adopted during the First Republic that aimed to "de-Africanize the streets." This policy was driven by negative perceptions of the customs and cultural manifestations associated with the Africans and their descendants. Taking these facts into account, it would not be erroneous to state that what has recently been called "new racism" or "cultural racism" in Europe has already existed for a long time in Brazil, and it has stung the practitioners and admirers of capoeira in an especially violent way. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Mestre Curió (Jaime Martins dos Santos) was born in 1939. He was a student of Pastinha, and he continues to teach and spread capoeira angola. "Capoeira is art, dance, malícia, philosophy, trickery, theater, music, and choreography, but not violence. It only becomes dangerous at the necessary moment." |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Mestre Gildo Alfinete began the lecture by showing some photographs of Pastinha from his personal archives, pointing out the umbrella hanging from Pastinha's arm in many of them. He said that Pastinha carried an umbrella with him wherever he went, rain or shine, to be used as a weapon in the case of an emergency. (Interesting note: Mestre Decânio, in The Heritage of Mestre Bimba, says that Bimba did the same thing!) |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 Next > End >>
|
| Results 11 - 20 of 27 |
