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Capoeira: The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace, Volume Two
Capoeira evolved as a Brazilian martial art developed initially by that country’s African slaves. Marked by deft, deceptive movements played on the ground or completely inverted, the form started gaining worldwide popularity in the early 20th century, when this second volume of Gerard Taylor’s wide-ranging history begins.
The book opens with a study of the capoeira “Bamba,” Mestre Bimba, who became renowned as a fighting champion in Bahia and opened the first legal academy during the dictatorship of Getulio Vargas. Taylor investigates the dramatic development of the schism that resulted in the competing styles of Regional and Angola. Moving into contemporary capoeira, the author provides an overview of new trends, such as international encounters, long distance “mail-order mestres,” mass membership capoeira associations, cyber-capoeira, and grading systems.
The book features the wisdom of a number of important mestres recounting their experiences teaching capoeira professionally around the world. In frank, inspiring interviews they talk about the highs and lows of the capoeira life, and how its lessons can enrich people’s lives.
Photographs, illustrations, and an extensive glossary of terms illuminate the complex history of this fighting art.
The book opens with a study of the capoeira “Bamba,” Mestre Bimba, who became renowned as a fighting champion in Bahia and opened the first legal academy during the dictatorship of Getulio Vargas. Taylor investigates the dramatic development of the schism that resulted in the competing styles of Regional and Angola. Moving into contemporary capoeira, the author provides an overview of new trends, such as international encounters, long distance “mail-order mestres,” mass membership capoeira associations, cyber-capoeira, and grading systems.
The book features the wisdom of a number of important mestres recounting their experiences teaching capoeira professionally around the world. In frank, inspiring interviews they talk about the highs and lows of the capoeira life, and how its lessons can enrich people’s lives.
Photographs, illustrations, and an extensive glossary of terms illuminate the complex history of this fighting art.
560 pages, Paperback
First published April 24, 2007
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June 6, 2020
Note: I got volume II first, so I finished it and am reviewing it first. Somehow I suspect I'll be giving Volume I the same review, though.
This is...probably one of the only books on Capoeira I've thus far read that strikes me as a work of serious scholarship AND works to cover practically all aspects of its history in a comprehensive way. A few books exist to focus mostly on sociology or philosophy; this book does a very good job of getting into pretty much every aspect and presenting various developments in a relatively objective way. A lot of the controversies - spoken or un - that crop up in the capoeira community are touched on and described without trying to force the reader onto a particular "side." Certainly, the author has an opinion, and it does come out: If I were to sum it up, I would say he is
1) A fan of the idea of SOME kind of competition and federation in capoeira, though critically he notes that "competition" can mean many things and that many of the reasons capoeiristas, especially the older generation, are suspicious of federations are quite reasonable.
2) A skeptic of the idea that many techniques supposedly introduced by Bimba or in more modern times are or were actually that unusual by the standards of what we know of "old" capoeira
He does not, however, belabor these points, and in general it comes across as an as-objective-as-possible, highly detailed, exhaustively researched, and excellently-written overview of the development, context, and nature of capoeira. I look forward to Volume I.
This is...probably one of the only books on Capoeira I've thus far read that strikes me as a work of serious scholarship AND works to cover practically all aspects of its history in a comprehensive way. A few books exist to focus mostly on sociology or philosophy; this book does a very good job of getting into pretty much every aspect and presenting various developments in a relatively objective way. A lot of the controversies - spoken or un - that crop up in the capoeira community are touched on and described without trying to force the reader onto a particular "side." Certainly, the author has an opinion, and it does come out: If I were to sum it up, I would say he is
1) A fan of the idea of SOME kind of competition and federation in capoeira, though critically he notes that "competition" can mean many things and that many of the reasons capoeiristas, especially the older generation, are suspicious of federations are quite reasonable.
2) A skeptic of the idea that many techniques supposedly introduced by Bimba or in more modern times are or were actually that unusual by the standards of what we know of "old" capoeira
He does not, however, belabor these points, and in general it comes across as an as-objective-as-possible, highly detailed, exhaustively researched, and excellently-written overview of the development, context, and nature of capoeira. I look forward to Volume I.
Displaying 1 of 1 review