Greetings,

In this post, I want to talk about the roots of capoeira. This is going to be the first in a blog series talking about this subject.

Check this out:

What you see above is a demonstration of engolo and kandeka, 2 martial arts from angola that Capoeira is derived from.

But are they the true roots of Capoeira?

Well, I say Yes… and No.

The reason I say so is that I believe that what it takes for a marital art to develop is the unique times, the terrain, and the unique cultures and worldview of the poeple who created it.

In the case of Capoeira, that is the Afro-Brazilian people.

Sure, engolo and other martial sciences from west africa have had their input in the creation of capoeira, but when enslaved africans were taken to other parts of the western hemisphere, different martial arts evolved which had similarities to capoeira, but were different due to the times, terrain, and the cultures and world views of those places.

In my opinion, there is only ONE place where capoeira as we know it, with it’s rituals, it’s fighting strategy, it’s music, etc. could have evolved, and that is Bahia, Brazil.

The afro brazilian people there developed a unique culture that birthed many cultural expressions that are loved and celebrated worldwide, like Samba, Maculele, Puxada de Rede, etc.

And Capoeira is one of those expressions.

In the future, I will post more about samba and the other cultural expressions of the Afro-Brazilian people, which I believe are the TRUE ROOTS of capoeira.

Now, I would like to introduce to to a very special city, One of the few places I want to go before I die…

SALVADOR DA BAHIA.

Greetings!

Well, like the title says, I’m gonna start a blog series called, “The roots of Capoeira Angola”.

But before I do that, I want you to watch this video I posted here, from “THE PROFESSOR”.

So, you guys may be wondering, “Why post a couple of about Hip-Hop history?”

“What the hell does this have to do with Capoeira?”

Well, I’ll tell you.

This video on Hip Hop history has many parallels with the many arguments about the history of capoeira going around.

From the time that our African ancestors were brought here to this hemisphere, there has always been a tendency from non-afro descendants to “creolize”, Co opt, and claim as their own anything that was created by blacks, or came from African culture, while at the same time, demonizing the very same black people who created it.

To see a example of this, click HERE.

Or watch this.

It’s like there’s a HUGE aversion out there for people to admit or acknowledge that African descended people could create or maintain a cultural practice on their own, without the help or “input” from other cultures.

I explain some of how and why this is in detail on the “THE EFFECTS OF HIS-STORY” page.

I also explained that for a long time now, there has been a HUGE DEBATE about Capoeira’s origins, which I believe is because “certain entities” in the capoeira “universe” as it is, want to give a capoeira a more “Universally Brazilian” origin, and to push the African roots aside, and worse yet, to DENY them, in order to give them a sense of “ownership” to the art, to justify taking control of how it’s taught and practiced, and to try and deny the actual descendants of the art’s creators to have much real power in capoeira.

I said elsewhere on this blog that for far too long, other cultures have been taking over the narrative of my ancestor’s history and culture, and controlled what the world thinks about us.

That applies to Capoeira, that applies to Hip Hop, and EVERY other cultural manifestation that African Diasporic people has “gifted” to the world.

Now that Capoeira in it’s many forms has spread around the world, It’s now very important that WE African descended people take back control of OUR STORY here in the Americas. Hopefully, this series I’m creating will help out in this mission.

I don’t know how long this series will be, it could be 100 posts or more, or it could be just 1 post. But, I’m looking forward to starting this journey, as much as I hope you’re looking forward to reading it.

Good Evening,

About a week ago or so, I posted a video with this picture in the title:

And I urged us all to learn our history so that we can tell our own story to the world.

Let me tell you why.

For about a week now, this video, and responses to it, have been popping up on my YouTube feed.

This video has JUST ENOUGH truth in it for someone who hasn’t studied the history of the transatlantic slave trade in depth to find what was said in the video to be plausible. But someone who has studied the history of the transatlantic slave trade will also find a thick layer of Bull@%*t layered in with it to wonder what exactly the producers of that video was smoking when they made it.

Now, I’m not gonna go into the obvious half-truths and outright lies in this video. However, if you click HERE, you can watch a video which does.

This blog entry is NOT about the above video. I only posted it here to show you what happens when we let the powers that be write our history for us.

Because when they write our history for us, they tend to leave important things out of OUR HISTORY.

Like this….

And this…

Look, in the last blog I wrote about this subject, and elsewhere on this website, I included this video.

And also elsewhere on this website, I wrote these words under this video:

Although the great Continent of Africa has it’s problems just like everywhere else, the fact is that many great ancient civilizations came from Africa, which in their day, and even to this day, were just as splendid and glorious as any other great civilization on the face of the earth. And, the people of africa and the african diaspora have made many contributions to the western world…

And under those words, I also included this video:

Now, let me say this AGAIN…

We children of Africa cannot depend on others to write our history for us.

WE MUST write our history.

WE MUST tell our own stories.

WE MUST take control of the narrative, and show the rest of the world WHO WE ARE.

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share this video with you. It’s about my all-time favorite WWE DIVA, Mia Yim, and her experience with domestic violence.

Now I posted this video for 1 reason. 1 in 4 women experience violence at the hands of their partners in their lifetime. This can happen to ANYONE, from ALL walks of life.

Hopefully, Mia’s story can inspire one of the tens of you who watch my posts out there to get some help, or to help a friend. If you want to watch the full video, click on the title below.

Mia Yim – Surviving Domestic Abuse

And remember,

Whomever you are, wherever you are, if you’re going through domestic violence, you are not alone, and

HELP IS AVAILABLE.

Please click HERE, and speak with someone today.

Hi everyone,

On my last post, I talked about a signal that a domestic violence victim can use to get help.

Now, I want to show you 2 more videos where the victims used to get help.

Of course the first video is a dramatization, but it’s also a situation that can happen.

Often times, victims of domestic abuse are literally “under the sword of their abusers” so to speak, and just like the capoeiristas from the old days, have to come up with creative and unconventional ways to get away from them.

Well, that’s the end of this post. And remember,

Whomever you are, wherever you are, if you’re going through domestic violence, you are not alone, and

HELP IS AVAILABLE.

Please click HERE, and speak with someone today.

Hi everybody, This is going to be a short post. I wanted to do a series of posts on self-defense for a while now, because there’s a lot of videos, tips, etc. out there in cyberspace that deal with say, physical assault. Some are good, some aren’t.

However, that’s not the focus of this post, although I’ll be posting about these at a later date, (and in fact, I already have).

In the first posts of this series, I want to talk about ways to deal with ways to deal with DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

What do I mean by domestic violence?

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Domestic violence is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. Domestic violence is often used as a synonym for intimate partner violence, which is committed by one of the people in an intimate relationship against the other person, and can take place in relationships or between former spouses or partners.In its broadest sense, domestic violence also involves violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It can assume multiple forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, or sexual abuse.

To Illustrate, I posted this video, so you can get the idea.

Now in the end of the above video, the main actress talks about a signal she used to alert her rescuers that she was in trouble. Now, I would like to show you this video, which shows some real life examples of this signal being used to save lives.

Although, I am concerned that this signal may be a bit less effective now, since a potential abuser might see this video or others like it, and recognize the signal.

However, I believe it’s worth posting, since there is a chance that someone may see this, and it may help them.

Well that’s it for this post. Whomever you are, wherever you are, if you’re going through domestic violence, you are not alone, and

HELP IS AVAILABLE.

Please click HERE, and speak with someone today.

Well, I didn’t want to believe it either.

Well, all I’m gonna say here is…

BULLS@&T LIKE THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS I CREATED THIS WEBSITE!!!

We children of africa cannot depend on others to write our history for us.

WE MUST write our history.

WE MUST tell our own stories.

WE MUST take control of the narrative, and show the rest of the world WHO WE ARE.

Otherwise, we will be always seen as LESS THAN, a threat, or SPIDERS.

I’m gonna end this post with this video from GCAP. One thing I always admired about GCAP and it’s founder, MESTRE MORAES, is the fact that they never compromised when it came to the african origins of Capoeira, despite the HUGE backlash they got by doing so.

Well, the video title says it all.