These three types of song and their sequence are still part and parcel of many contemporary capoeira
rodas which attempt to keep close to tradition, and precisely for that reason it is difficult to assess to what
extent earlier practice departed from this structure. Yet evidence suggests that at least a fourth type of song,
a quadra, was commonly executed in early twentieth-century Bahian rodas. According to Greg Downey,
the quadra is ‘a type of short solo that is followed by call and response and can be sung during play, unlike
the solo ladainha which will stop play’.^62 M.Bimba, among others, excelled in quadras and has recorded
some of them.^63 Cantigas de sotaque constituted a further variation of the initial ladainha mode. It consisted
of two players, instead of one, improvising verses alternately to challenge each other. They usually preceded
a game between mestres or at least experienced players able to improvise.^64 The cantigas de sotaque thus
resembled the verbal challenges (desafios) common in Northeast Brazilian popular culture.
Rituals and the cultural meaning of vadiaçãoAs Lewis wrote, ‘the introductory ladainha/chula complex clearly establishes a ritual framework for the
play to follow’.^65 This ritual framework was maintained during the game in a number of ways. Many
corridos sung during play continued to ask for spiritual protection or referred to a wider religious context.
Every roda was usually closed by a specific corrido (‘Adeus, adeus’), announcing that the players were
about to leave, with the protection of God and Our Lady Mary.
The chamadas (best translated as ‘calls’) provided an opportunity to interrupt the game momentarily to
execute what is perceived, at least today, as one of the core rituals of traditional capoeira. One of the two
players initiated a chamada by adopting one out of four or five conventional poses, extending for instance
the right or both arms wide open while standing in an almost fixed posture (only dancing on the spot or
blessing himself); thus ‘calling’ the other. This signalled the interruption of the ‘normal’ game. The ‘called’
player then started a kind of solo performance, executing acrobatic moves, eventually returning to the ‘foot’
of the berimbau, and finally approaching the caller with great precaution, to establish some form of physical
contact either with his hand(s) or his head (see Figure 4.9). Each chamada had to be answered in a
particular way, and one of the reasons to call the other player was to test if he was able to provide the
adequate answer. Any mistake that left him ‘open’ could result in a kick or head-butt that made him lose
face.
Lewis has interpreted the chamadas as a kind of ‘subroutine’, or ‘a game within the game’, where the
rules of the ordinary game are broken and a new set of sub-rules prevails.^66 Old mestres typically insisted that
chamadas allowed for the full deployment of cunning (malícia), considered then—and still now—a key
skill in capoeira. The question which however remains is if these rituals only provided a framework for an
otherwise non-ritualized mock combat, or if the whole capoeira game can be considered a ritual. Lewis tends
to distinguish play and ritual ‘as opposed or complementary social domains’, and sees in the interplay
between both the reason for ‘much of the ambiguity in capoeira’. In his view the Catholic rituals of the
Bahian festival cycle provided a sacred ‘excuse’ for profane celebrations, among which the games of the
capoeira roda.^67
Whilst this might have been the case for some capoeiras, especially the ‘tough guys’ examined in the last
section of this chapter, I would argue that the distinction between sacred and profane, and between ritual
and play is problematic, because it derives from Western perceptions and definitions. Margaret Drewal, for
instance, has shown how among the contemporary Yoruba, play and ritual are far from mutually exclusive,
and how ritual can consist in permanent improvisation and renegotiation.^68 In similar ways song texts,
toques, movements and many other features of the Bahian vadiação were subjected to permanent
re-invention, but could still be part of a ritualized performance.
THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA 111