To follow up my Capoeira Addict’s Ultimate Guide to Capoeira Books (and in response to Xixarro’s feedback), I’m going to give brief reviews of all the capoeira books I’ve read. (So keep this page marked, as I will be adding reviews as I read more capoeira books, as well!) To be honest, I’ve never felt comfortable writing reviews on anything, because how do I know whether it’s good or not, and who am I to tell other people, especially when reviews are usually done on such subjective works such as music, or literature? So just consider this a disclaimer that everything here is (obviously) my own personal opinion!
Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game (Nestor Capoeira)
This was the very first capoeira book I read, and I loved it…at least the first time around. As I’ve mentioned in a (much) earlier post, some parts of it felt like Nestor Capoeira had read my mind, especially when he talked about the beginner’s experience when first learning capoeira. This was also my first major introduction to capoeira history, capoeira myths and legends, and all the complexities and variations that they involved. It was engaging, interesting, and informative, and I thought it was a really good pick to have read as my very first capoeira book. Nestor Capoeira also uses a lot of long passages from others’ works (so much that I almost put it as a negative point), so you get some exposure to other well-known capoeira scholars as well.
There were just a couple things that bugged me about the book, just a little at first and then became more pronounced as I read it more and the novelty of it being a capoeira book wore off. The first was that in certain turns of phrases or sentences, I thought Nestor Capoeira seemed to be pushing an ”agenda” or ”ideology” a bit too much to make the whole read completely enjoyable. I know I may be on thin ice saying this considering my own blog is angled, but it was just something that kept coming up through the book.
The second thing I wasn’t crazy about, and this became more obvious when I started reading A Street-Smart Song, was the style of Nestor Capoeira’s writing when describing certain concepts. I don’t know if I or he wasn’t sure who the book’s target audience was, or if he was just trying really, really hard to be completely accessible to people with all education levels, but at several points I felt that the writing was almost…talking down to me, or gimmick-ifying (for lack of a better term) normal but just not often mentioned things. The one example off the top of my head is from Street-Smart Song (which I won’t review now because I’ve only gotten a few pages in), when he describes solar flares, ending the description with something to the effect of ”These are what are known as ‘solar flares”’ (with the quotation marks). Maybe it’s just my own neurosis on this one, but I didn’t really like the way outside examples were introduced like the water cycle is introduced to kindergarteners.
Overall though, still a good read!
Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form (Bira Almeida / Mestre Acordeon)
Now this one, I really liked. I don’t actually quite know why I like it so much, but it seemed like the perfect all-around introduction to general capoeira history/philosophy/mythology to me, and without the bits of ”obvious agenda-soaked text” and over-simplified writing that irked me in Roots. The writing overall is much more polished, and the entire book is pretty well written. I liked pretty much everything in this book, but highlights included: a poetic description of the different stages of being a capoeirista, from beginner to mestre; a chapter made almost entirely of song lyrics and English translations (I liked to cover up the translations and test how well I could get the gist of the Portuguese first, and pick up some vocabulary along the way); and a really beautiful capoeira parable, an excerpt of which you can read here.
Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art (Greg Downey)
This book was so cool!! Purely because I’m a nerd and really enjoyed seeing the words ”capoeira” and ”ginga” alongside other words like ”ethnographical” and ”Foucault”. XD Seriously speaking though, reading this book was a really good way to find out more about capoeira angola, since the author’s research consisted mainly of training (to a fairly high level) with GCAP. This book is an anthropological study of capoeira and how it changes us, physiologically as well as in all the other ways we (will) know and love so well. It talks about historical as well as modern-day capoeira, and brings in contemporary issues such as racism in Brazil, and capoeira’s role in it all. Learning Capoeira was the first academic capoeira book I read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
p.s. Thank you so much to everyone who commented on my last post! I haven’t had time to respond to them yet (because I want to do it properly), but I will as soon as possible. Just so you know, I’ve actually been travelling since the 16th and will be doing so until the 28th, but I will try my best to keep blogging as normal all the while!
Capoeira weaves fighting, music, dance, prayer, and ritual into an urgent strategy by which people live, struggle, celebrate, and survive together. In this book Bira Almeida—or Mestre Acordeon as he is respectfully called in capoeira circles—documents his own tradition with both the panoramic eye of the historian and the passionate heart of the capoeirista. He transports the reader from the damn of New World history in Brazil to the streets of twentieth-century Bahia (the spiritual home of capoeira) to the giant urban centers of North America (where capoeira is now spreading in new lineages from the old masters).
Learning Capoeira: Lessons in Cunning from an Afro-Brazilian Art is a provocative look at capoeira, a demanding acrobatic art that combines dance, ritual, music, and fighting style. First created by slaves, freemen, and gang members, capoeira is a study in contrasts that integrates African-descended rhythms and flowing dance steps with hard lessons from the street. According to veteran teachers, capoeira will transform novices, instilling in them a sense of malicia, or “cunning,” and changing how they walk, hear, and interact.
This is by a wide margin the best book yet published on the history of capoeira, in any language. Matthias Röhrig Assunção has done the archival digging that most previous authors have been unable or unwilling to undertake, and has avoided the essentialism and willful invention of tradition that pervade the most popular accounts. Instead, he makes the competing and overlapping accounts of capoeira’s origins part of his subject, emerging with a rich account not only of the game itself but of the ways in which it has been understood and its place in larger debates on the meanings of Afro-Brazilian culture.
The book starts off by giving an in-depth history of the Brazilian art of Capoeira. The last half of the book deals with the movements and techniques of Capoeira, including: offensive and defensive movements, basic kicks, takedowns, advanced kicks and movements, head butts, hand strikes, and knee and elbow strikes. Each of the techniques and maneuvers are vividly depicted by drawings that are very easy to understand and learn from. There is also an explanation of both Angolan and Regional versions of most of the techniques.
Nestor Capoeira, a long-time teacher of capoeira and noted mestre (master), begins this revised edition of his bestseller with an in-depth history of the Brazilian art, giving the most popular theories for the origins and purposes of this movement that combines the grace of dance with lethal self-defense techniques in a unique game-song structure. He discusses some of the most famous capoeristas and their influence on the art. In addition, he describes how the two major branches of capoeira (Angola and Regional) came about and the differences between them.
Capoeira is simultaneously a dance, a fight, and a game. Created by the Africans brought to Brazil as slaves beginning in 1500, capoeira was forbidden by law but survived underground. When open practice was allowed in the 1930s it soon became very popular. Capoeira came to America around 1975, and has become widely recognized by dancers and martial artists. The author discusses capoeira’s evolution from Brazilian street play into a way of life. The philosophy of capoeira, and the practical and spiritual benefits of that philosophy, are also discussed. Instructions and exercises in intermediate and advanced skills take up where the author’s previous book left off. The book includes 100 black-and-white photos and illustrations.
A Street-Smart Song delves into the boundless philosophical depths of capoeira, the fascinating synthesis of Brazilian dance and self-defense. Drawing from a wide range of sources—the streets of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, the teachings of the old masters Pastinha, Bimba, and Leopoldina, and the brutal economic realities inflicted on the poorest of Brazil—Nestor Capoeira paints an indelible portrait of this living art, its spiritual heritage, and its vital place in a world hypnotized by media and crushed by poverty.
The first in a two-volume series on capoeira, Volume One traces the origins of the popular martial art and dance form from the beginning of the slave trade in the Americas in the 1500s to the early years of the Brazilian Republic in the 20th century. Focusing on the people and events that shaped the art form in Brazil prior to the “academy” period of the last century, Capoeira: The Jogo de Angola from Luanda to Cyberspace explores the subject from many vantage points.
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.
Until recently, Brazilians dominated the market on capoeira books, yet the form has spread across the globe over the last four decades. This expansion from the favellas (slums) to the world stage has introduced a host of new capoeira practitioners with varied lineages, techniques, and traditions. In Capoeira Beyond Brazil, Aniefre Essien brings an international, political perspective to capoeira, speaking to both the novice and aficionado, as well as to historians, martial artists, social justice organizers, and youth development professionals.
Based on eighteen months of intensive participant-observation, Ring of Liberation offers both an in-depth description of capoeira—a complex Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines feats of great strength and athleticism with music and poetry—and a pioneering synthetic approach to the analysis of complex cultural performance.
Capoeira, a Brazilian battle dance and national sport, has become popular all over the world. First brought to Brazil by African slaves and first documented in the late eighteenth century, capoeira has undergone many transformations as it has diffused throughout Brazilian society and beyond, taking on a multiplicity of meanings for those who participate in it and for the societies in which it is practiced. In this book, Maya Talmon-Chvaicer combines cultural history with anthropological research to offer an in-depth study of the development and meaning of capoeira, starting with the African cultures in which it originated and continuing up to the present day.
Capoeira is a unique music-dance-sport-play activity created by African slaves in Brazil, and Candomblé is a hybrid religion combining Catholic and African beliefs and practices. The two are closely interconnected. Capoeira and Candomblé have for centuries made up a coherent form of Brazilian life, despite having been suppressed by the dominant cultures. Now they are not only widely recognized in Brazil, but have become popular in North America and Europe as a new blend of sports, dance, and holistic approach to many facets of life.
Grade 5-8 | Few Americans have heard of capoeira, though it is rising in popularity and will be featured at the 2004 Olympic Games [sic?]. Atwood offers an enthusiastic if flawed presentation to fill in the information gap. The full-color photographs are energetic, showing players of both genders, a variety of ethnic backgrounds, and a broad range of ages. The format is colorful and vibrant but it is sometimes confusing. Several pictures at the tops of the pages have captions buried under paragraphs of type. Sidebars are set off only by a change of background color that varies randomly from page to page; therefore, children are likely to continue reading the mainstream text directly into a side topic and wonder what happened.
Many people have dreams but few have the guts to follow them. This is the story of a young Englishman whose passion for Capoeira took him on an incredible journey from the sedate surroundings of the English Home Counties to the heart of Rio de Janeiro’s toughest shanty towns. This book is a must for anyone who wants to study Capoeira in Brazil, and any martial arts student will admire Gleadall’s dedication to Capoeira – his enthusiasm fizzes off every paragraph. His tenacity in the face of a brutal training regime, injuries and the gun violence of the Favelas is a lesson in focus for any aspiring martial artist. And the book has an appeal far beyond the world of martial arts. It is also a wake up call to anyone who has a passion and is afraid to take the leap of faith to pursue it. Above all this tale is a testament to the power of following your heart.
In his first novel, Khafra Om-Ra-Seti flows with the spirit of ancient African wisdom and martial arts mastership. This book brings together many of his beliefs and visions regarding the search for a true meaning in life. The saga of the Dogon family, and the ancient beauty and spirit of Capoeira, moves the reader into the realms of msyticism, power and deceit, love and hate, freedom and redemption, and the burning passion to reach the highest level of self-mastery in one’s lifetime.
Happy Holidays! With the season now upon us, have you found something for everyone on your list? Yes, you say? Oh, except for one person, you say? That one person for whom you have no idea what to get, except maybe something to do with that crazy Brazilian capo-whatsit they do because it’s all they ever talk about? Well, look no further! Even if they already have copious amounts of abadas, t-shirts, street wear, and DVDs, by the end of this post, you’ll have a handy list of ideas for what to get for the capoeirista in your life (or, as a treat, for the capoeirista in you)!
Mandingueira 
