Glossary
Abadá 1 Tunics used by Muslim slaves for prayer, 2 Working cloth of port workers, 3 Capoeira uniform.
Agogô Metal bell, instrument of the capoeira orchestra.
Angoleiros Practitioners of the traditionalist capoeira, Angola style.
Atabaque Drum used in Afro-Brazilian religion and entertainment.
Au ‘Cartwheel’, a capoeira movement.
Axe Divine energy in AfroBrazilian religion.
Balão Acrobatic movement whereby one capoeira player is thrown over the other’s shoulder or head with a
somersault.
Bamba A ‘tough guy’.
Bassula Wrestling practised by fishermen on the northern coast of Angola.
Bate-coxa Variation of samba duro, where contenders attempt to overthrow each other to the music of samba.
Bateria 1 Samba orchestra, 2 Capoeira orchestra.
Batuque 1 Colonial, generic denomination for African and Afro-Brazilian drumming and dancing, 2 A
combat game in Bahia, 3 Afro-Brazilian religion in South Brazil.
Batuque-boi Local variant of the combat game batuque.
Batuqueiro Practioner of batuque.
Berimbau Musical bow of central African origin, key instrument of twentieth-century capoeira.
Berra-boi Another term for the berimbau, usually that with the deepest sound (gunga).
Brincadeira Play, and, by extension, the capoeira game.
Budo The ensemble of modern Japanese martial arts.
Cabeçada Head butt used in capoeira and other combat games of the Black Atlantic.
Cabra 1 A goat, 2 A dark-skinned mulatto, 3 A tough guy.
Calinda Combination of stick fighting and dancing in Trinidad.
Candomblé 1 Afro-Bahian, and, by extension, 2 Afro-Brazilian religion.
Cantiga de sotaque A variation of the initial capoeira song (ladainha), for two players, rather than one,
improvising verses alternatively to challenge each other.
Canto A street corner, where slaves ‘for hire’ gathered waiting for clients.
Canto de entrada. The capoeira song that follows immediately the ladainha, also known as reza, chula or
louvação.
Capadócio 1 A vagrant, 2 A capoeira.
Capoeira 1 The martial art (not italicized in the text), 2 A nineteenth-century term for the practitioner of
capoeira (italicized in the text).
Capoeira Angola since the 1930s denominates the traditional style of capoeira as played in Bahia (see
Chapter 6).
Capoeiragem A nineteenth-century synonym for capoeira, the martial art.
Capoeirista The contemporary term for a capoeira practitioner.
Carioca An inhabitant of Rio de Janeiro.
Carrapeta Young apprentice capoeira in nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro, synonym for caxinguelê.
Catimbó Magical practice of northern Brazil, mainly used for healing.
Caxinguelê Young apprentice capoeira in nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro.
Caxixi A kind of rattle made of straw filled with beans, part of the berimbau.
Chamada ‘Call’, ritual interruption of normal game in some capoeira styles.
Chapa de costa Backward kick in capoeira Angola.