LP RECORDS

 

    In our days, modern technology has made it relatively easy and much cheaper to record a "capoeira music CD".  We find hundreds of avilable CDs in the capoeira curcuit.
    Most of them were recorded by groups or teachers without a great talent and many times without even a deep knowlege of capoeira and it's music.  Notwithstanding this scenario we shouldn't be too critical towarde them: these amateus CDs are the true artistic expression of a mestre or a teacher and a dedicated group of pupils.

    But up to circa 1970 very few players managed to break the barriers, wich included the high cost of specialized studios, and record a "LP (long play) record" - a black vinyl "pancake" some 10 inches wide -, have them "pressed" and finaly see them being sold in the larger comercial circuit or even in the very small (at the time) capoeira academy circuit.
    Some of these records became "The Classics", they are a reference up to our days, and one of it's rare copies is a "colector's iten" eagerly disputed by younger players.

    The five records we will present, and comment on, give us a brief insight of the vast variety of human types wich composed capoeiras scene around 1960/70.  These mestres were all blacks or mulattos and some were almost iliterate, they were all very, very different.  But they all had great leadership and, each one in his own way, enormous charisma.

    - Mestre Caiçaras was one of the last to represent the lawless tough guys wich dominated capoeira in the first decades of the 1900s.

    - Camafeu de Oxóssi was into candomblé (afro-brazilian religion) as well as into samba de roda (music scene) and into all the rest of Bahia's cultural afro universe.  But he was also a smart and competent businessman and became the owner of one of the two big restaurants on the top od the Model Maket, a prime tourist and cultural point.

    - Mestre Pastinha was the most famous of the angoleiros (capoeira angola players) of his time and became a leader due to his vision of things, charisma, endurance and the capacity of organizing and putting things together..  He was "capoeira's philosopher" and left a lineage wich is still active in our days.

    - Mestre Traíra, reknowned for his capoeira game didn't leave pupils or followers.  Within Traíra and Cobrinha Verde - wich is with him on the record - what is evident is the power of the group and the power of the ritual above the ego of the individuals.

    - Mestre Bimba created "capoeira regional" in the 1930s and was the seminal vector of our contemporary "capoeira academy era" (after the slavery and the underground periods).  Bimba became famous for being an undefeated free style fighter besides a exceptional capoeira player.  As well as his imense charisma and intuitive inteligence wich permited him to create the base of  what is today's teaching methodology.  What his record reveals is something few has forseen: the "black giant" was also a mature artist, full of swing.

    So let's see the five "classic" capoeira music LP records:

 

    - ACADEMIA DE CAPOEIRA DE ANGOLA SÃO JORGE DOS IRMÃOS UNIDOS DO MESTRE CAIÇARAS.
    AMC, São Paulo, AMC LP. 5032-A. No date.
    Mestre Caiçaras (Antonio Conceião Moraes), "the lord of the streets", sets the tone for his record with his deep and powerfull voice.
    His voice ressoantes as of a deep toned opera singer, not only for it's volume but also for a natural and organic narcisism.      In the history of Brazilian music we had many such singers such as Orlando Silva, um Cauby Peixoto, ou um Nelson Gonçalves, wich were tops until circa 1960 when Bossa Nova enters the scene with it's singers such as como João Gilberto, Nara Leão, Tom Jobin, Vinicius de Moraes, etc., with their "small", cool voice and intimate interpretations very much influenced by some of America's jazz singers such as Chet Baker.

 

    - BERIMBAUS DA BAHIA - CAMAFEU DE OXÓSSI.
    MusiColor, São Paulo, LP. 1.04-405.016. 1967.
    Camafeu was known and popular all over Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia and meca of Brazilian black culture.  He was deeply into Salvador's Afro cultural and social life: candomblé (religion), samba de roda (music and dance), the traditional street parties, and the MercadoModelo (the Popular Market) where he owned a restaurant.  He is an interesting example of sometuning wich has gradualy disapeared: Camafeu was a man who has intimacy with capoeira and berimbau (capoeira's main musical instrument) simply because it was part of the context and social tissue where he lived; the same way someone may play basketball with friends saturday afternoon without being a "basketball player".

 

    - CAPOEIRA ANGOLA - MESTRE PASTINHA E SUA ACADEMIA.
    Philips, Bahia, SCDP - PF - 001/GB. R. 765.097L. No date.
    The sound rolls and over it, in  certain parts, we here the (circa) 75 years old Pastinha (Vicente Ferreira Pastinha, 1889-1981)telling us about his youth, the capoeira players of the past, his hopes for the future, and his philosophy of life.  A realy touching and beautifull record.

 

    - CAPOEIRA - DOCUMENTOS FOLCLÓRICOS BRASILEIROS - 2.
    Ed. Xauã, Rio de Janeiro. No date.
    A beautifull record, simple and honest but with an extremly sophisticated cover and presentation.  The record came together with a booklet with sensational capoeira photos from the 1950/60 (perhaps by the famous sculptour Mario Cravo?) as well as a text by the reknowned writer Dias Gomes whom later became even more famous as a soap opera writer at TV Globo, Brazil's number one TV.

 

    - CURSO DE CAPOEIRA REGIONAL - MESTRE BIMBA.
    JS Discos, Salvador JLP.101. No date.
    An incredible record with a very modern (at the time) cover with two capoeira players drawned in geometrical paterns.  With the record came a panphlet wich included Bimba's "sequência"  and "cintura desprezada"   (the core of his teaching method) explained in a sequence of drawings.
    But the "martial art" and "self-defense" aproaches did not prepare the listener for the impact of what he was about to near.     Bimba  (Manuel dos Reis Machado, 1900-1974) singing and playing solo berimbau with only two pandeiros and a sensational women chorus brought from the candomblé, with their high pitched voices contrasting with his deep toned voice and easy going and swinging style of singing.  Here we have a definitive sound portrait of a complete and mature artist (in oposition to his image as a fearfull and undefeated fighter who craeted "capoeira  regional" said to be "more efective as a fighting method" than other styles of capoeira).

 

    However all of these mestres are from Bahia and they dwelt in Salvador during circa 1930-1980.  IIn Rio de Janeiro the most reknowned and admired capoeira nusic singer and composer was mestre Leopoldina (Demerval Lopes de Lacerda, 1933) wich comes into scene around 1960 and is active up to our days