The music in capoeira is magical. I believe that through breathing one can not only absorb the air, but also the music that surrounds. The music becomes a part of you, it helps keep the heart beat in time, it pads your feet in every step, in every ginga….

Written by Sarah Bartch Some of the capoeira songs that we sing make references to certain catholic saints. Songs with religious references are often quite obscure and it can be very hard to try to understand the depths of the words especially without any cultural background knowledge. Also, often the meanings are purposely veiled in [...]

Apanha laranja no chao tico tico VERBAL ANNOTATION: TICH TICH DOM DOM DOM DOM, TICH TICH DOM DOM DOM DIM TICH TICH DIM DIM DIM DIM, TICH TICH DIM DIM DIM DOM This rhythm can be vastly varied and is very similar to SANTA MARIA in the regional section. However this is more of an [...]

BARRAVENTO VERBAL ANNOTATION: DOM DOM NNN (The NNN is when the pedra or dobrao is pressed against the wire but the vaqueta itself does not hit, it is in the act of pressing the dobrao on the wire that makes a note). Barravento is the state just before a candomble follower will be taken over [...]

THE TOQUE DE SAO BENTO GRANDE DE ANGOLA VERBAL ANNOTATION: TICH TICH, DIM, DOM, DOM The rhythm of sao bento grande is the most commonly used toque in the world. It is used in most contemporary rodas and also played on the viola in traditional angola rodas. It is NOT a traditional regional rhythm, and [...]

TOQUE DE SAO BENTO PEQUENO VERBAL ANNOTATION: TICH TICH, DIM, DOM, SHAKE This is a rhythm that is usually played as an accomplice to the other three berimbaus in the angola orchestra. It is usually played on the medio berimbau and used to compliment the sounds. It helps maintain the rhythm but also plays with [...]

TOQUE DE ANGOLA VERBAL ANNOTATION: TICH TICH, DOM, DIM, SHAKE The ‘toque de angola’ is one of the most common played toques. Just a couple of things to note: 1. when you have your dobrao or pedra pressed on the arame make sure that when you take it off you simultaneously hit the bottom note [...]

The berimbau Rhythm-Iuna This Rhythm has been explained to me in many different ways by many teachers, and with various meanings.However, I am just going to say that in capoeira regional (in angola it is different), they use this for the jogo dos mestres e professores.

The Berimbau Rhythm-Banguela In capoeira Regional, they traditionally used this rhythm to slow down the capoeira game for practice purposes. This game was almost like a pseudo-capoeira angola game.

The berimbau Rhythm- Idalinha I am sorry, but I have not heard any kind of explanation for this rhythm other than it was just a rhythm that people liked to play, it was not used for any kind of purpose or intention. VERBAL ANNOTATION: TICH TICH DOM DOM DIM DOM DOM TICH TICH DIM TICH [...]