Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 107
Figure 4.7 Capoeira roda (left) and students of Mestre Juvenal (right) near Mercado Modelo in the port area. Photos
by Pierre Verger, 1946–7. By kind permission of the Pierre Verger Foundation.
Most movements require good balance and flexibility, as well as strength, since players often equilibrate
themselves on their arms or their head while executing a kick (see Figure 4.7).
There is also some controversy regarding the instruments used in the former rodas, in particular regarding
the berimbau and the drum. E.Carneiro suggested that the berimbau might only have been incorporated into
capoeira at the beginning of the century. This is consistent with all the nineteenth-century sources already
examined. E.L.Powe even reports that M.Pastinha told him that when he learned capoeira only a drum was
used. 46 Yet in contrast to contemporary capoeira, all early twentieth-century sources seem to agree that no
drum (atabaque) was employed, but only berimbaus and tambourines (pandeiros). They were eventually
complemented by some other percussion instruments, such as the chocalho (metal rattle), the reco-reco
(scraper, also called ganzá in Bahia) and the agogô (metal bell). 47
According to some sources even small guitars (violas, cavaquinhos) were sometimes played in capoeira
rodas, a further indication that at this stage, capoeira was still not an entirely formalized art. 48 Moreover, the
berimbaus were not necessarily restricted to three. M.João Pequeno remembers when four or five berimbau
players came along with their instrument, they would all play together. 49 Early photographs and drawings of
capoeira orchestras confirm this flexibility of the number of berimbaus and tambourines. One might argue
that in times of police repression, it was difficult to run away with a heavy drum, and thus the introduction
of the berimbau. This, however, would not explain the absence of the atabaque in more permissive
environments, such as the square festivals.
Whilst capoeira in all three contexts shared common features, greater informality characterized the
practice at the workplace or even in the neighbourhoods. In the latter capoeira was played in everyday
clothes, often in shorts, without a shirt and even barefooted. On the docks and gangways players wore
working clothes, in general as informal as the everyday attire used in the neighbourhoods. Only during the
square exhibitions did players wear more elaborate and formal Sunday dresses. Good players took pride in
joining a roda with their white linen suit and not have it stained during the game or lose their hat. Despite
the acrobatic movements executed close to the ground only hands, feet and head were supposed to touch the