Art Of Disguise

Through a couchsurfing meeting I met with my first mestre of capoeira, Mestre Marinheiro, who invited me to join his small group to practice Regional style capoeira.

In truth, I don't think, I'm with certainty that it's a martial art, because as I said earlier capoeira is a fight for liberation of a people. The slaves practised capoeira as a form of defence, it was a self-defence, a defence of theirs, so they could be liberated from the slave masters.

_{Mestre Marinheiro - 2011}

He didn't have his own premises for the purpose, but was happy to have us practice in public at a recreational space along the beach, where young women would train their rollerblading skills around us.

This was somewhat distracting for our all male contingent, but our Mestre made sure we managed to learn some techniques. I was pretty out of shape, and the movements were demanding, but with some experience of martial arts I overcame my inadequacies and found will to continue. I likened the structure and regime to that which I had experienced with Kung Fu (Chin Woo) back in 1993 ! Our Mestre also taught us about the history of Capoeira, the slaves that brought it from Africa and evolved it, despite the martial art being prohibited.

With some Regional under my belt, I was keen to learn more about the Angola style and as luck would have it I met a woman, Renatta Camarotti, who put me in touch with her friends from the relatively new capoeira group, Tupinambá. At first there seemed to be some doubt as to whether I might be accepted, but Mestre Sapoti seemed happy enough to take me on, so long as my intentions were good.

Whilst the Angola training might not have appeared as strenuous to a spectator, I can attest that the slower movements are more demanding of physical control over the body compared to the rapid style of Regional.

I loved the more playful and devious nature of the Angola style that had a more chaotic feel about it and far less rigid than the formal nature of Regional style. I particularly enjoyed the Tupinambá's public rodas which put the group quite literally in the cobble stoned streets of Rio Vermelho for all to see.

Sapoti did agree to an interview, but it was evident his initial hesitation was well-founded. Sapoti froze in front of the camera, losing all his charm and jovial character, it didn't seem right to include a poor representation of him in this video.

Around the same time I had been introduced to Frede Abreu, a researcher of Capoeira's components and related cultures. His apartment was full of material collected over several decades, and he hoped that it might all end up as the foundation of a museum dedicated to Capoeira, since even in Salvador, after hundreds of years of heritage, there still did not exist such a museum for Capoeira.

If capoeira is a game, it's a game of divination, and of cleverness, understand? of guessing, of make believe.

_{Frede Abreu - 2011}

Frede gave me a crash course in all there was to learn about Capoeira's origins, but admitted there was still much that he didn't know and might never uncover, since he agreed that Capoeira had hidden much about itself for so long.

I got wind of there being a female mestre in Salvador, and one with decades of experience. I sought her out and had the great honour to meet Mestre Janja, an intellectual woman with an unwavering pride of her African roots and much to say about the injustices that continue even in today's modernised Brazil.

Mestre Janja's capoeira group, Nzinga practice Angola style and are very well-established, having premises in São Paulo as well as in Salvador.

There is a trend of racist thinking to believe that our existence begins only when we crossed the ocean as slaves. But the people who came over the ocean, they brought memories etched in their bodies and these memories are memories of Africa, they reflect the essence of Africa.

_{Mestre Janja - 2011}

Whilst I did not train with Mestre Janja, after some persistence she warily agreed to an interview with this British stranger who had dropped out of nowhere.

At this point I should mention that my wonderfully educated, beautiful namoradinha, Ana Pereira Dos Santos, had come all the way from São Paulo to visit and assist me in the research and interviews of mestre Sapoti, researcher Frede Abreu and mestre Janja.

Without Ana, my interviews would not have rolled so smoothly and perhaps in the case of the hesitant mestre Sapoti and mestre Janja, might not have happened at all. Ana has a scintillating voice that lulls even the most stubborn people into a state of co-operation. Years of experience in theatre and a job at the bank may have had something to do with it.

So whilst I was faffing about with setting up my camera and sound, Ana would be gently inquisitive, chatty and humorous with our interviewees.

Ana has a genuine interest and thirst for learning about other people, showing them a lot of empathy for their interests and thus facilitating all the questions I had prepared for the interviews. During those interviews Ana would ask all the prepared questions, but also interject a little to offer some of her own, an excellent interviewer all round. Perhaps she might consider being a TV chat show host one day.

Later, taking a journey out of Salvador to the town of Lençóis, I stayed with the lovely Aline Tiagor, who introduced me to Ailton Carmo, contra mestre Coquinho of grupo Esquiva, who in turn introduced me to his gracious mestre Cascudo.

Martial arts don't have instruments, right? To play, sing, so really, it's a martial art that became a heritage of mankind because of the music. Berimbau, atabaque, gongo, caxixi, greatly enrich capoeira. You fight and the music is playing. Only in capoeira.

_{Mestre Cascudo - 2011}

Mestre Cascudo started his group on a shoestring budget, endeavouring to offer the poor children of the locality an outlet for all their energy and an education in Capoeira.

All of the interviewees for this video had wonderful backstories, but Mestre Cascudo's was the most heart-warming. He struggled and succeeded in creating one of the most vibrant groups of Capoeira in Brazil.

Still with grupo Esquiva I realised that much of the time a capoeirista is viewing the world upside down, so shooting from the same respective would help give the viewer a little added insight into the experience.

I would like to have attached a camera to the chest or head of a capoeirista to see if it might have captured a more interesting viewpoint, but time was running out.

I couldn't leave Lençóis without interviewing the charismatic and somewhat famous contra-mestre Coquinho, Ailton Carmo, who played the lead role in "Besouro" a movie about a rebellious capoeirista. Ailton being the most youthful of my interviewees was exceptionally positive about all aspects regarding Capoeira and the life that it had opened up for him.

One of the capoeira players makes a movement, a question, the other player makes a response...this in and out, swinging of the body, exchanging of knowledge, of movements, for me it is a game.

_{Contra Mestre Coquinho - 2011}

Ailton gave me some very specific examples of how Capoeira is considered a game, illustrating the games within the game. As with many mestres of Capoeira, the activity has become Ailton's life's work, to practice, study and spread the culture of Capoeira all around the world.

With the last interview in the bag I could finally start editing, but that it wasn't until I had completed my tour of Brazil that I could finalise the editing, for one thing I still needed to find an arara or a toucan to be in my introduction, which I didn't find until I reached Bonito.

Featuring

Mestre Cascudo Contra-Mestre Coquinho Mestre Janja Mestre Marinheiro Researcher Frede Abreu Capoeira Grupo Esquiva Capoeira Grupo Nzinga

Music

"Samba De Roda"
Grupo Esquiva

Introduction Music

"Whatsitallabout"
Stereo De Luxe

Camera

Brasilia Unit - Felipe Bianchi

Transport

Brasilia Unit - Viviane Berli Bianchi

Transcript

Portuguese
Ana Pereira Dos Santos

Producer

Tim Jules Hull

Special Thanks

Vanessa Nicolav Richard Sanches Joao Paulo Vergueiro Ivan Satori Alexandre (Potas) Potascheff Alexandre Andrade Sergio Pos Arvin Haghnazarian Sven Ziesche & Fanny Lee Helda Da Rocha Natasha Felizi Mauricio De Diana Oswaldo De Salvador Jose (Branco) Raimundo Lopes Renatta Camarotti Mestre Sapoti Capoeira Grupo Tupinambá Lais Haanwinckel Aline Tiagor Eduardo Mamede D. Paim Aida Paiva Sara Branco Paiva Marcel Sestari Jiri & Debora Prasila