Translation into English: Shayna McHugh
Source: Ginga Capoeira, Ano 4, n. 26

Whatever stereotypes exist about religion and spirituality, these won't tell me anything. I want to understand the feeling – the spirituality associated with the practice of Capoeira, whether Angola or Regional. There's an African anthropologist who states that it’s impossible to unlink the black man from spirituality. When a white man arrives at the seaside, touches the water, and blesses himself in homage to Iemanjá, he’s doing it by imitation; he learned from the black man. It's one thing to touch the water and feel the energy that emanates from it – water is one of the elements of nature with which we should always be in contact; it composes the largest percentage of our bodies – and it's something else to touch the water because you saw someone else doing it.

The same thing is happening in Capoeira; many people are doing things by imitation. They see Mestre João Grande bless himself, make the circle of Solomon on the ground, drawing it with his fingertips, etc… everything is done by imitation. Am I generalizing? No. As soon as I start talking about feelings, I can't judge anyone. In Capoeira this begins from the relationship that you have with your Mestre, as the link to your ancestors. If this link is short-lived, then nothing is happening.

Whoever has had the pleasure or displeasure of learning from me, if today they earn a living from Capoeira, they must use my name: "I was a student of Mestre Moraes, I learned with Mestre Moraes…" There's just one detail: while these people make up part of the link called Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho, that's fine, but I don't want to say that they should stay in GCAP for the rest of their lives. After all, I'm no longer in Mestre João Grande’s academy; he's in New York and I'm in Brazil. But I continue to feel myself a part of Mestre João Grande, I don’t give that up. We've even had conflicts between us, but because I felt such a strong necessity to have this link, I found a way to go to the U.S., sit next to him, and talk it over. Today, I'm proud to say that (besides Mestre João Pequeno) I'm the only one in whom he trusts to enter his academy and give a class to his students.

If you want a speech about Capoeira Angola without touching on spirituality and ancestrality, you'd have to invite a professor of physical education, or of some other thing that isn’t Capoeira Angola. My relationship with Capoeira Angola is one of pure subjectivity, and when I play, I externalize what I feel. If I don't feel anything, I'm in no condition to play Capoeira. This feeling not only affects me, but also reaches the Orixá, making him rise or fall through the toque. In the Capoeira Angola roda, we too invoke our ancestors by playing and singing. We invoke Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha… they come back, they return… Mestre Waldemar, Mestre Bobó, Paulo dos Anjos, Caiçara… They come! But, just like the Orixás, they only come if their language is being spoken through the music or the lyrics.

When we form the Capoeira roda, in actuality two rodas are formed: one is our circle, and the other, on the outside, is the ancestors' circle. Depending on how this roda goes, on how things happen, these ancestors take over the bodies of the capoeiristas. That's why sometimes a guy is playing and he does something different from what his Mestre taught. It's because it’s not him that's doing it, because, as a body made of mere matter, he is limited. When exceptional things happen, it's because it's not him doing the movement. It could be Mestre Bimba, it could be Mestre Pastinha, Mestre Waldemar…

We are instruments, and that's why we shouldn't play around at being capoeiristas, because we're instruments of something much bigger than ourselves. Either we seriously involve ourselves with Capoeira or we pay for it, and many people are already paying. Because after a few days or a few months of Capoeira, you've got an injured knee or shoulder or arm, your nose or forehead got broken, and you ask yourself, "Man, what the heck was that?" All this happens because we don't pay attention to the mystical force that Capoeira is, which overcomes – by far – this physical world.

When I fought, and fought hard, against the acceptance of sport-Capoeira, many people were against me. But now these people have to pay fees to the CREF (Conselho Regional de Educação Física – Regional Counsel of Physical Education), because if they don't pay, the CREF closes the academy. I warned: "people, let's worry about other things, there are more important things!" – "No!" they said, "Capoeira is a sport, I want to build up my muscles and all that."

I don't have an academy, I have a group. I never had an academy. In my group, you won't find a weightlifting room… when you walk in, you'll find the people doing ginga, sometimes doing the dance of an Orixá in order to warm up their body and play Capoeira. I call this acculturation, that’s all. You don't see anyone else doing ginga to warm up while preparing for dance, for soccer, for anything else besides Capoeira; you don't see it. These adepts of other sports don't deliver themselves to this process of acculturation, and we do.

Mestre Nenel, who is present here, lives in Salvador, and we know each other. Today, I respect him, not because he's Mestre Bimba's son, but because of the way he speaks of Capoeira Regional. I feel very good being here, speaking about Capoeira Angola alongside a Mestre of Capoeira Regional. Today you no longer see the police putting an end to street rodas. Great, isn't it? Very good. But let's not be fooled.

The police don't do this anymore because the capoeiristas are already putting an end to the rodas among themselves, so they don't need to. That which the police used to do, today the capoeiristas themselves are doing by fighting one against the other. The State already reached their goal through the CREFs, through the Capoeira tournaments – they allowed and supported all this in order to create divisions among the capoeiristas. Because whatever doesn't agree with the State’s policies is seen as insignificant; whoever takes advantage of the official sponsorship gets pitted against those of us who oppose all that. It thus creates conflict. I even believe that unity is impossible when it comes to Capoeira.

I hope that everyone takes some time to reflect. When you hear your Mestre say, "Look, I wanted to bring a Mestre of Angola, I wanted to bring Mestre Moraes, but I'm not going to," ask him why not. If he tells you, then come find me and ask: "Mestre, is it true that you're annoying?" I'll say: "I am, and that's why I can't go." I'm annoying because I'm black and I'm aware of my history and the history of my people. Many people from the state of Rio Grande do Sul used to see me as a racist who doesn't like white people, that whole story.

And what is being racist? It’s the same thing as being communist, as being feminist. When you don't react to offenses, you're considered 'nice' – "He's black, but he's nice" – because he accepts everything, he's fine. But this is the racist Moraes: the Moraes who knows his history, who doesn't allow himself to be disrespected, and who says: "Capoeira is an African manifestation in Brazil. It can be practiced by white people, yellow people, blue people…"

In Europe they asked me: "Mestre, in light of all this, is it possible to have a Mestre of Capoeira Angola from Germany one day?" And I said, "Yes!" "But we're white, we're from a different culture, we're from the first world…" I say: Forget all this, and then it will be possible. But, as long as you see yourselves as white, as inhabitants of the first world, that your culture is different, then you will never be a Mestre of Capoeira Angola or Regional; you'll always have to import Mestres from Brazil.