Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

BIMBA AND ‘REGIONAL’ STYLE 135
himself was a spiritual son of the warrior God Xangô and the orixá of the Ocean, Iemanjá. At the age of 20
he was initiated in a terreiro of the Ketu nation where he became an ogã—an honorific title given to
important supporters of a shrine. Even though he subsequently severed links with that particular teneiro he
still continued to fulfil his obligations for Xangô. Later he was involved in the terreiro of his wife, Dona
Alice Maria da Cruz near Nordeste de Amaralina. Here he informally held the function of alabê, or chief of
the orchestra and played the three sacred drums during ceremonies. 54 Yet, Bimba was not only proficient in
the Afro-Bahian religious traditions, he was also an outstanding samba de roda singer and drummer. 55 Last
but not least he had been initiated to the batuque movements, music and rituals by his father.
This vast experience gave him the authority to choose from a wide range of elements those that would fit
into his capoeira style. He removed some aspects of the traditional capoeira he did not approve of. For
instance he banned the money game. Interruptions of the game by one player who ‘called’ the other through
a specific posture (chamada) were also not accepted in his rodas. But he maintained the volta do mundo
where the two players momentarily interrupt the game and walk anti-clockwise around the roda circle.
Bimba then instituted two important new ‘rites de passage’ in his Regional style: the ‘baptism’ and the
‘graduation’. The first ceremony occurred when a new student played for the first time in the roda (usually
after a period of six months). Typically a whole group of new students were baptized together. On that
occasion, Mestre Bimba himself played the São Bento Grande rhythm and determined which advanced
student was to play with the ‘fresher’ (calouro), forcing the latter to display his knowledge of basic attacks
and defences. After the game, Bimba attributed a war name he had invented himself, or which had been
suggested by an advanced student, to the novice standing in the middle of the roda, followed by general
applause. Sometimes Bimba then asked the fresher to take the benediction of his ‘godfather’, and when the
novice extended his hand towards the graduate student who had just baptized him, the latter took the
opportunity to apply a kick that threw the freshly baptized on the ground. 56 The graduation ceremony and
especially the Iúna rhythm constantly reaffrrmed the separation between the universe of the beginners and
the graduated students and more generally contributed towards the instauration of hierarchy. 57 According to
Decânio, a strong bond developed between the ‘godfather’ and the student he baptized. The ‘godfather’ for
instance was allowed to apply the first sweeping kick (rasteira) in the roda, which would again take the
newly baptized student to the ground. These rituals consolidated the group identity and contributed to the
perception of Bimba’s students as a closely-knit team.
After a further training period of approximately six months, during which the baptized student had to
acquire the basic skills of how to play in a roda, he would ‘graduate’. For that occasion M.Bimba created a
second, more complex ceremony (formatura) , usually graduating a cohort of half a dozen of his students.
On that day, people from all over the city and many more from the mestre’s popular neighbourhood
Nordeste de Amaralina attended. Bimba dressed all in white used his whistle to command the ceremony.
After some initial games to create the right atmosphere, Bimba stopped the roda and asked for the designed
orator—one of the older students—to deliver his graduation address, giving a brief sketch of the Regional
style and explaining the ceremony to the audience. The graduating students then had their war names
confirmed and received, through the hands of their ‘godmother’ (usually their girlfriend or mother) a blue
silk scarf and a medal, to be worn on the chest. Bimba himself also made interventions, advising students
how to behave or explaining for example that the silk scarf was formerly used by the capoeiras because it
supposedly resisted razor cuts. 58 At this stage the graduating students had to pass the final assessment of
their technical skills. First they had to perform specific movements which Bimba had requested in front of
the audience. If they failed to remember or to complete a movement adequately, or if they arrived late at the
ceremony, they had to pay a fine. Then they had to show their knowledge of different types of games, such
as the elegant jogo de floreio, where they were not supposed to stain their white clothes, and the escrete, a