of capoeira’ altogether.^57 Yet M.Noronha also insisted that ‘the inside game is the most important game
[within the Capoeira Angola]’, an opinion shared by probably every angoleiro.^58
Since boundaries between rather playful and more antagonistic games were blurred, every jogo could
potentially cross the borderline and even deteriorate into an open confrontation. Only the mestres in charge
were able to prevent this by calling the players back to the ‘foot’ of the berimbau to admonish them, or by
changing the rhythm or the song. The ambiguity between game and fight resided at the very core of the art.
Despite the insistence of many old mestres that in this period there was less aggression in capoeira than
today, and that friendship reigned between ‘comrades’, games occasionally did become violent. Capoeira
was more than a game; it could be a lethal weapon. We are going to see, however, that most of the violence
associated with capoeira in this period did not originate within the roda.
Songs were central to the capoeira game. They conjured up memories of capoeiras of the past, praised
gods and saints and asked them for protection, exhorted players and commented on the ongoing game.
Although Querino and Carneiro have transcribed some capoeira lyrics from the first half of the nineteenth
century, no song was recorded prior to 1940.^59 We are therefore left with only fragmentary evidence
regarding both the formal structure and the contents of songs before that date.
Capoeiras drew from a wide repertoire of tradition during each roda performance, but they were not
bound to a mere, uncreative repetition of existing songs. They rather rearranged known songs, weaving
their own biography, convictions and feelings into the lyrics and interpretation. If the refrain sung by the
chorus repeated a traditional verse, the solo singer could, after singing some of the well-known verses, fully
improvise his part. Usually singers did use older, established verses but inserted others of their own creation,
to compose a song that was suited for the particular context of a given performance. In that way they could
acknowledge tradition whilst, at the same time, displaying their skills as improvisers. Thus every capoeira
song performed in a roda constituted an intertextual bricolage. For that reason Rego insisted how dangerous
it was to attempt a distinction between ‘old’ and ‘contemporary’ capoeira songs in the 1960s—prior to the
systematic recordings.^60 His collection of over 100 chants remains the basic source for the study of
‘traditional’ capoeira lyrics, if we postulate that texts of songs did not alter significantly between the 1940s
and the 1960s (and it is in this sense that I use the term ‘traditional’ here).
In formal terms, capoeira songs of the first half of the twentieth century can be divided into four
categories, whose names, again, differed according to each mestre.^61 A roda usually started with the mestre
in charge or some other senior person shouting ‘Iê!’, a sign that he was about to start singing a ladainha or
‘litany’. The ladainha consisted of a solo song, which invoked famous capoeiras (such as Besouro
Mangangá or Pedro Mineiro), other historical episodes or any fact from everyday life considered relevant.
The ladainha put forward a more or less explicit message expressing the singer’s approach towards life in
general, or capoeira in particular. The ‘litany’ could also comment on the individual players crouching at
the ‘foot’ of the berimbau or on any other member of the audience. That is why players were well advised
to listen carefully during its execution.
The ‘litany’ was followed by a louvação (‘praise’, also called reza, canto de entrada or chula), where the
chorus always repeats the verse of the lead singer. This song usually starts praising God and one’s own
master, and ended with warnings or exhortations to play. The two players, who so far respectfully listened,
began to gesture to illustrate or underline the messsage of the louvação: for instance raising both bands
towards the sky when God was praised.
Only when the solo singer sang a standardized verse such as ‘volt a do mun do’ (‘go the world’) and
initiated a corrido did the players initiate the game proper. The corrido also consists in verse(s) of the lead
singer followed by the chorus; the difference with the ‘praise’ is that the refrain does not change, whilst the
lead singer is free to improvise his part once he has intoned the initial standard verses.
110 THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA