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 Mestre Moraes is the founder of GCAP (Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho) as well as an English professor and social historian. He was an extremely important part of the revitalization of capoeira angola in the 1980s. On his blog, Mestre Moraes posts song lyrics, thoughts about capoeira, and more. In Portuguese.
Some of my favorite posts: |
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 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. |
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 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 |
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"One day, I wrote everything that I think about capoeira on that plaque on the door of my Academy. On top, only three words: Angola, capoeira, mother. And underneath, the thought: 'Sorcery of slaves longing for liberty, its beginning has no method and its end is inconceivable to the wisest capoeirista.'" |
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"Iêêêêêêêê!" Whoever hears the call of Natalício Neves da Silva (Mestre Pelé) along with the first notes of the berimbau, never forgets it. His expressive voice is capable of taking us through 500 years of history and making us aware of the liberating power that the Capoeira roda represents. Mestre Pelé was born in 1934, in the days when Capoeira was played on weekends and holidays. He was part of a generation divided between the marginalized Capoeira of the street and the institutionalized Capoeira of the academies. |
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