13 Jan 2017 Toquinho – Aquarela (Watercolour) – 1983 Along with Romaria (Elis Regina version) and Canção da América (Milton Nascimento) this is another song from my childhood that makes me feel very emotional and melancholic whenever I hear it. I can’t even try to sing along to Canção da…
Berimbau makes a guest appearance
17 Oct 2016 A Sepultura song came up randomly on my music player giving me a light bulb moment and the inspiration for this list. If you can think of any add to the comments list or ping me! Note that this isn’t in any way a scientific or extensive…
Learning Tom Zé
03 Aug 2016 Learning Tom Zé I grew up vaguely aware of Tom Zé’s but it wasn’t something I listened to studiously at any period of my life, like I did with Chico Buarque, Elis Regina. I listened to Rita Lee a lot more than Tom Zé, for example. Then…
Vivência Cultural 2016
6 Jun 2016 Vivência Cultural 2016 Cobra Mansa, Janja, Tião Carvalho & more (haven’t figured out who yet) – Group Nzinga’s album, released in 2003. Mestra Janja e Mestra Paulinha Mestra Janja (http://nzinga.org.br/pt-br/grupo_nzinga – Grupo Nzinga) was a guest of honour at Mestre Poncianinho’s event Vivência Cultural 2016, and indeed,…
Mestre Marcelo Angola visit to Mojubá
05 Feb 2016 Mestre Marcelo Angola visit to Mojubá Tonight Mestre Marcelo Angola went to Dance Attic to teach the Friday class. I saw a fair bit of him last year, and his daughter, at various events in London and I always learn new tricks with him. His style is…
Literature de Cordel – Mestre Gaio on Mestre Suassuna
30 Jan 2016 Literatura de Cordel – Mestre Gaio on Mestre Suassuna This booklet was lent to me by my camarada Neil, who received it from Mestre Poncianinho, and the first thing I did was take photos of it. This copy is old and delicate, so I thought I ought…
13th of November 2015
13 November 2015 Today is the aniversary of Mestre Pastinha’s death, 13/11/1981. A version of a documentary with subtitles has recently been posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_90xDdqArz8 (07 Feb 2016, looks like they removed it). Here’s the original without subtitles It’s also Felix’s birthday, so there was a roda to celebrate…
Mestre Poncianinho’s 15 Years of Capoeira in England
26 October 2015 Mestre Poncianinho’s 15 Years of Capoeira in England This weekend saw the celebration fest for our Mestre Poncianinho’s 15 years in England and graduation ceremony. Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday were a roller coaster ride of classes, graduation and emotions and I’m still digesting it all, as…
A negregada instituição
13 Oct 2015 A negregada instituição The word ‘negragada’ confused me – translated directly to English on google translate, it translates as ‘neglected’, however when I look for a Portuguese definition it returns ‘hateful, hard work (as in, causes exhaustion), repulsive, negligible’. To be honest, I’m not sure what it…
Mojubá class – 5th of October 2015 – Jogo de Dentro variations
Mojubá class – 5th of October 2015 – Jogo de Dentro variations Music! We practiced repiques for gunga, medio and viola, also then Jogo de Dentro. I put together this video which has pandeiro, berimbau variations and atabaque (from a couple of weeks ago) for jogo de dentro: Then we…