A night of Capoeira at Mestre Curio's academy

Wherever you are in Salvador you are likely to encounter capoeira. Whether you decide to venture up to the Forte de Santo Antonio to visit one of the academies of the many grand masters that work here or simply taking an evening stroll on the Terreiro de Jesus in Pelourinho or passing through the Mercado Modelo to get on a boat at the nearby marine terminal, you are almost guaranteed to catch a glimpse of it.

Mestre Curio's academy is based in the Forte de Santo Antonio, otherwise known as the 'Forte da Capoeira', a beautifully kept 16th Century fort which is now the home of many of the most famous academies of capoeira here in Bahia. Having met Mestre Curio during one of my visits to the Forte, I wanted to learn more about his style and approach to Capoeira. Asking him about his classes timetable I immediately impression it was a busy one, with lessons running almost every day, generally twice a day. 'And of course, we have a roda every Friday night at 7.30 at our other space in Rua Gregorio de Matos next to the arts and crafts shop, do you know where that is?' 'Yes Mestre, I do know' I had noticed the hand painted sign hanging from a window just above the live jazz music place where we had stopped for one last drink a couple of nights before.

 Happy with the wide range of choice, I said to Mestre Curio I was going to come back on the saturday for afternoon training.'And Friday for the roda?' he asked with an enquiring smile 'Mestre, I will do my best but I can't guarantee'. I really wasn't sure whether the whole thing would work with the roda finishing late and me having to make my way back from Pelourinho, the historic centre of town, to Barra, the port area of Salvador where I am staying past 10 o'clock at night. 'If you don't come on Friday, I am going to eat you' 'Well Mestre, if that's the case I am not even going to show up on Saturday!' we both laughed and and left it at that.

On the Friday, I made my way to Pelourinho early. Buses run regularly from the big shopping centre in Barra to the Praca  da Se, the gateway to Pelourinho. It's just hard to know exactly when as there is no sign of a time table and the general rule seems to be that people turn up and wait until the right one arrives. So I do the same and this time I am lucky and my bus is coming in just as I get to the stop. 

A ten minutes walk from the bus stop to the Terreiro de Jesus, the famous square in the centre of town framed by three of the many beautiful baroque churches that are dotted around Salvador, almost gets me to my destination. The street that takes to Mestre Curio's space starts in the far right corner of the square, just next to the Igreja de Sao Francisco. Relieved by a relatively easy journey, I climb a
set of stairs that seem to be leading to the space, get to an iron gate, ring the bell and wait. It's a warm summer night and outside life carries on as normal. The jazz bar has a different artist on tonight, people stroll around others stop off for a drink, street kids ask for money, the baianas carry on selling their local culinary specialities. 

The door opens from upstairs and one of Mestre Curio's students comes down to get me. He must be no more than 17 or 18 but has the assertiveness and confidence of someone who is much older. He isn't of many words and something about him suggests that, despite his young age, he has spent enough time training in the academy to be entrusted with many key tasks. 

We walk up the stairs leading onto a nice airy space on the second floor of the building. It is always interesting to get a sense of the spaces in which different masters teach as it often says something about the school. In Mestre Curio's academy the walls and floors are all painted in yellow with drawings of black silhouettes representing elements, symbols and personalities that are important to the school. A giant stylised portrait of Mestre Pastinha - founder of the Angola style in Capoeira and teacher of Mestre Curio- dominates the right hand side wall and sits next to an equally large silhouette of Mestre Curio himself playing the berimbau and wearing his distinctive top hat.

 Many schools in Salvador which - like Mestre Curio's- follow from Mestre Pastinha's lineage choose the colours black and yellow as the main ones for their uniforms and general decor of the schools, remaining faithful to the tradition set by Mestre Pastinha himself.

In the middle of the floor a large circle painted in black against the yellow background seems to act as a reminder of the physical boundaries of the roda, the circle where the games of capoeira take place. In the middle of the circle itself  two berimbaus - the main musical instrument in capoeira- crossing each other have also been painted along with the words 'Quem nasceu para nos vencer, ja foi vencido' (Those who were born to defeat us have already been defeated), which seems to be as much a reminder of the need to remain humble when entering a game in the roda of capoeira as a whole new perspective on the suffering of the black slave community under European ruling in colonial times.

Mestre Curio's academy and - as I was to discover that night- his rodas seem to have a strong spiritual component, with many elements drawn from Candomble, one of the many manifestations of Afro-Brazilian religious practices developed by the slaves and their descendants in colonial times.

There are many small altars located in various corners of the room, each with a small statue of a deity disguised as a Christian saint. On the far left corner of the room, the largest altar is also the most richly decorated with colourful fabrics, small precious containers and a large image of what looks like Saint George and the dragon. This is also the altar by which Mestre Curio' leaves an offer of a plateful of food before starting the roda.

Much work goes in the preparation of the roda but Mestre Curio is not alone in this process. There are at least ten of his students between the age of 7 and the age of 18 busy ensuring that all duties are covered. It is a very 'young' school and faced with that sight I suddenly remember Mestre Curio mentioning in one of our previous conversations that he works with children as young as 4. Something about the scene  that I am faced with suggests that he is pretty successful at retaining them and that, for many of these children, the academy becomes their second home.

 Like all other children of their age, they play, they laugh and they chase one another around the room. But once the preparations for the roda begin,the focus and the commitment that they put into ensuring that everything goes ahead smoothly is incredible. Some are preparing an incense burner, others are choosing and arranging the instruments ready for the musicians to use, someone else is checking the register against the people who are present - even Mestre Curio's name gets called!

As Mestre Curio uses the incense burner to cleanse the space where the games of capoeira are about to take place, everyone, from the youngest of the children through to the older students, takes an instrument and starts singing what sounds like the hymn of the school. The ease and the effortlessness with which the kids play the instruments and sing is definitely something worthwhile coming to the other end of the world to witness. Some of them - even those as young as 10 or 11- play the berimbau beautifully, in a way that is clearly second nature to them. 

After the hymn has been sung, Mestre Curio uses the incense to cleanse each and every person who is going to take part in the roda, including their feet. It is a powerful ritual and one that - aside from its spiritual meaning- makes me immediately feel part of what is about to happen. 

The musicians take their place and the roda begins. Sitting next to the viola, the smallest berimbau, and playing the pandeiro, I have a prime spot to watch how things unfold. The structure of the bateria (the group of instruments played by the musicians) is very similar to the one used in our school and so is the way in which players start and finish their games. Many songs are familiar as well. However, instead of being opened by the most senior students of the school, the roda seems to be started by the youngest ones. Gisele and Besourinho are in first.

The games are very long and everyone gets a chance to warm  up and 'find' their movements again very quickly. My first game is with the young lad who came to get me at the door earlier. I feel very welcome as the words of 'Camugere', a song that is often used to introduce and salute a guest in a roda of capoeira, fill the air. The game is slow and tactical and the young man is a very skilful player.

 As Mestre Curio told me in one of our later conversations, the style that he endevours to teach is pure Angola, directly following from and attempting to preserve Mestre Pastinha's teaching which are nowadays gradually being lost. He had also added that the Capoeira he teaches is many things - culture,education,self awareness,folklore, tradition- but it's not violence. And these are the principles to which every student is exposed right from the start of their formation within the school.

The playfulness of the young man combined with an acute awareness of the other person's 'open' (and therefore weaker) points of the body do remind me that I am facing a pure Angola player and the game immediately becomes an interesting learning curve. We must have played for no more than ten minutes but all in all that felt like at least half an hour, so many where the new places it was taking me to.

The roda lasts for about two hours, during which many good games take place. Watching them is definitely as absorbing as playing. For the last farewell song, all the musicians stand up and walk anti-clockwise around the two players in the middle, as if to accompany them to the end of the game. Immediately after the game ends,the musicians start playing the rhythm of samba de roda and a twenty minutes dancing session closes the evening on a high note. There is good energy all around and once the samba finishes everyone reaches for a drink of water, realising that they had been going without for about three hours.

Out of breath and drenched in sweat but beaming inside for the great session I get changed and try and catch Mestre Curio before leaving. Handing him my contribution to the session, I express how nice the roda was and congratulate him on his school. He accepts the compliment with a big smile and a quiet nod of the head and gently accompanies me to the door 'Go now, it's getting late for you. See you on Saturday'.