San Francisco Capoeira » capoeira music workshop

What a Week!!

admin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:34:30 +0000

We just had 4 full days of incredible workshops and batizado. What a week! Mestre Di Mola, Prof. Baiano and Prof. Indio came in for the event and added amazing energy to the event. Prof. Baiano conducted incredible music classes, we had an open roda on 24th and Mission and played a ton of capoeira!

But they weren’t the only ones to come visit us in SF! We had students from every single one of our chapters in the US and Canada join us. Chicago, NYC, LA, Seattle, Madison, Amherst, Minnesota, Winnipeg, and even Sweden. It was such a great event. But let the pics tell the story….

Here are photos from the batizado.

Omulu Capoeira Guanabara Batizado-San Francisco

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:27:28 +0000

Our batizado is right around the corner. Here are the details:

Wednesday, August 19th

4:00-5:15 Music Workshop ($10) @ Aceituno Arts, 2141 Mission Street, San Francisco 94110 (Mission District)
6:30-10:00 Capoeira Workshops @ Harvey Milk Center, 50 Scott Street, San Francisco, 94117 (Castro)

Thursday, August 20th

4:30-5:30 Open Roda @ 24th st.and Mission st., 94110
6:30-10:00 Capoeira Workshops @ Harvey Milk Center, 50 Scott Street, San Francisco, 94117 (Lower Haight)

Friday, August 21st

4:00-5:15 Music Workshop ($10) @ Aceituno Arts, 2141 Mission Street, San Francisco 94110 (Mission District)
6:30-10:00 Capoeira Workshops @ Harvey Milk Center, 50 Scott Street, San Francisco, 94117 (Lower Haight)
11:00-1:00 am Celebration for Mestre’s 50 years of capoeira @ Aceituno Arts 2141 Mission Street, San Francisco 94110

Saturday, August 22nd (Batizado)

10:30 am-3:30 pm San Francisco Batizado @ Harvey Milk Center, 50 Scott Street, San Francisco, 94117
10:00 pm-2:00 am Party at Pena Pacha Mama with Fogo na Roupa (Carlos Aceituno’s Brazilian Bateria) $10 at the door

***Individual workshops are $30. Each day there are 2 workshops. The first workshop is 6:30-8:00 and the second is 8:30-10:00. (if you plan on attending only the second workshop please get there at 8:00 to warm-up). Batizado without the package costs $60.

Getting to San Francisco from SFO or Oakland

For those of you flying in from out of town it is really easy to get to the city from the airport. The BART (The Bay Area subway system) has a stop at the airport and you can take that into the city. Go to this website for further info http://tripplanner.transit.511.org/mtc/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en. This website works for both SFO and Oakland. This website will also give you the routes for the MUNI (the san francisco bus system).

Housing

As for housing, we are working that out right now. Once we get everything settled which should be within this week, we will have your hosts contact you.

San Francisco Resources

Also, for those of you out-of-towners, there are a lot of things to do in the Bay Area. Here are some websites that you can check out that will give you some good places to check out.

http://www.sfstation.com/ (General san francisco guide)

www.yelp.com (Great website that will give you great restaurant and shopping recommendations)

http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com/

We look forward to this years batizado!

Instructor photo from lasts years SF batizado (2008)

Paraná Eeeeeee!!

admin — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:58:35 +0000

We went over ‘E Paraná’ in our class yesterday and breifly touched on why Paraná is included in several capoeira songs. I was able to pull up an excellent article that goes into more detail…..

This article was taken from www.capoeira-connection.com.

Why sing Paraná ê?

Written by Formada Ana Marley & Manuel de Querino

Tuesday, 19 February 2008

Translated into English by Shayna McHugh

Source: Capoeira Santista

Much of capoeira’s philosophy and history is recorded between the lines of its songs, not forgetting that part of this history is linked with that of Brazil. This is why it’s important to research and question the meaning of some songs, since their main purpose is to pass on a message, whether immediately or for later reflection.

So we are going to talk a little bit about the historical content within one of capoeira’s most popular songs: Parana ê. It refers to the War of Paraguay, but what was this war?

It began in 1865 and lasted five years. At the time, Paraguay was the only country in Latin America that could be considered independent, and it found itself in full industrial development, with weapons and gunpowder factories. Unproductive land was being transformed into state plantations, generating employment for the whole population.

Impeding the process of Paraguay was a big challenge for England, because Paraguay became a big competitor in productivity. Brazil and Argentina, on the other hand, were interested in taking possession of parts of Paraguayan land.

The spark that initiated the war occurred on November 24, 1864, when Paraguayan president Solano López cut ties with Brazil, captured the Brazilian ship Marques de Olinda, and invaded the state of Mato Grosso (which, together with Paraná, are the only states that border Paraguay).

At the end of all the battles, the Paraguayans took the worst casualties. 75% of the country’s population was killed; of 800,000 inhabitants, only 194,000 were left. With this victory, England once again returned to economic domination of the region, and Brazil and Argentina managed to take 140,000 kilometers of the land they wanted.

But what about the slaves? How did they enter the War?

The whites “logically” didn’t want to be on the front line of battle, so they created a law saying that blacks who entered the war and returned alive would win their liberty. What the whites didn’t anticipate was that the majority of the blacks who went… actually returned!!

The slaves had an advantage thanks to capoeira, because at the time, battles depended more on hand-to-hand fighting than on weapons. So, on their way back, on the margins of the Paraná River, the now ex-slaves sang:

Vou dizer à minha mulher, Paraná
Capoeira que venceu, Paraná… [Venceu a guerra]
Paraná ê, Paraná ê, Paraná.
Ela quis bater pé firme, Paraná [Ela = a guerra]
Isso não aconteceu, Paraná…

I will tell my wife, Paraná
That capoeira won [the war], Paraná
Paraná ê, Paraná ê, Paraná.
It [the war] wanted to stamp its foot hard, Paraná
This did not happen, Paraná

Despite the tragedy for Paraguay, the war was an important milestone in the life of slaves in Brazil. Because of this, it is commemorated to this day in ladainhas and corridos throughout the country.

Here is the original link http://www.capoeira-connection.com/main/content/view/195/73/

Brunch and Berimbaus!

admin — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 02:29:20 +0000

That’s right! We got another one coming up soon! This event is where we practice music and have a little brunch pot luck as well. Students that take this class always leave with some good songs in their repertoire and have a better understanding of how to play capoeira instruments. Here are the details:

Sunday, April 5th

10:30-12:00

Aceituno Arts Cooperative

2141 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94112

$12

Brunch and Berimbaus will also be the Aceituno Arts chapters effort in fundraising for the encounter in August. So in the past, we let all of you who paid monthly fees to take this class for free but because we are fund raising, we are now asking that everybody pay.

We hope to see everyone there!

Music Workshop and First Roda of the Month

admin — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:04:47 +0000

Just a friendly reminder that we will be having the first roda of the month and a music workshop at mestre’s class this Friday, May 2nd. The class takes place at the Glen Park Rec center and will be from 6:30-9:00. This is yet another great opportunity to practice that berimbau. I hope to see everyone there!

For more info go to www.omulu.com