Understanding Capoeira through Brazilian music

“You wanna learn about Brazilian history without going through the books, you can just listen to the music and you’ll understand everything…”

Brasil, Brasil – Samba to Bossa Nova, is one of the few resources in English through which the non-Brazilian practitioner can deepen his/her understanding and experience of Brazilian folk culture (cultura popular Brasileira) in the English language. For this reason, I recommend the following episodes as well; The Tropicália Revolution, and A Tale of Four Cities.

With the advent of a global context in Capoeira there has been an increasing trend to understand it as a stand-alone cultural manifestation. Sometimes ‘teachers’ and ‘mestres’ even reinforce to practitioners a sense of ‘exclusive loyalty’, as if the cultural experience could be entrenched in one group only. Some like to boast how ‘specialised’ they are, justifying that Capoeira is too complex to have its practice associated with other cultural manifestations. It might even be true that in some cases it needs an exclusive dedication. However, it is misleading to present Capoeira as a ‘detached’ culture.

I encourage practitioners from all ethnic backgrounds to think differently, and to widen their view of Capoeira through the understanding of the Brazilian culture and history. One does not need to be Brazilian to become an excellent Capoeira. Neither does one have to adopt a stereotyped identity, often based on traditionalisms and mannerisms in order to authenticate his/her practice and relationship with Capoeira. Besides, it would be nonsense to attempt to understand Capoeira isolated from its early socio-historical context to any practitioner, regardless of his/her ethnic background.

If the practitioner wants to uphold his/her practice’s inner philosophy, then the understanding of Brazilian folk culture is paramount; and this goes far beyond group and style ‘politicking’.

This documentary – Brasil, Brasil – Samba to Bossa Nova, is one resource amongst many others through which the non-Brazilian practitioner can deepen his/her perception and experience of Brazilian folk culture.

Nevertheless, I would like to note that on the contrary to what is said at the beginning of the documentary, most of our society is aware that ‘racial democracy’ in Brazil is a myth; and that this concept was underpinned by a fascist dictatorship in the 1930s. During this period a few Brazilian scholars embraced the establishment’s agenda, publishing articles and books supporting such ideas.

Since then western scholars have been re-seizing this issue as critical to Brazilian society. However, most of them were educated in countries where the closest their societies get to inter-ethnic contact is the adoption of the ruling system’s multicultural perspective; i.e. preaching mutual respect but not necessarily interaction. It is no wonder they are unable to understand our intercultural formation and openness to ethnic mixing.

Unfortunately, some of our scholars and Mestres de Capoeira seem to be unaware of the westernisation Brazilian culture has been suffering lately. Instead of addressing these issues from their distinctive perspective; the angle of a people with a strong sense of ‘otherness’, forged by inter-ethnic confluence, and still open to intercultural experiences; they begin to adopt the western multicultural perspective and its restrictive ‘hyphened’ identities to account for the new ethnic and cultural protocol embodied by Brazilian culture.

As I quoted from Darcy Ribeiro in the article The Day of the Black Consciousness, “racial democracy is possible, but only if practised together with the social democracy” (Ribeiro; 1995: 227); a system Brazil has not practised throughout 50 consecutive years, and which still to this day is not fully realised.

References:

Brasil, Brasil – Samba to Bossa Nova; BBC. Sourced from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF0DTzkpsHo on 26-11-09

Ribeiro, D. (1995). O Povo Brasileiro: A Formação e o Sentido do Brazil [The Brazilian People: The Formation and Meaning of Brazil]. São Paulo: Schwarcz LTDA.

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