Festival Mundial Bantus Capoeira 2006 photos

Festival Mundial Bantus Capoeira 2006

Originally uploaded by Bantus Capoeira Japan.

Well, I’ve finally uploaded the photos from Cafune’s digital camera onto our flickr site. You can check out the whole album here.

The festival delivered all that is promised and more! From August 21st to 27th it was non-stop capoeira 24 hours a day.

From the moment we stepped off the plane in Belo Horizonte to the final roda at Mestre Pintor’s holiday home in Casa Branca, we trained, played, learned, ate, slept, dreamt, and shopped capoeira!

The seven bantulinos from Tokyo were Caçapa, Cafune, Mico, Quati, Lanterna, Coruja, and Cotonete. Yoshiko, Noriko, and Hiroshi received their new nicknames at their batizado in Brazil!

After arriving in Belo Horizonte we dumped our bags at the Bantus Academia, we were happy to not have to carry the 60kgs of donation clothes we collected in Japan to give to the Bantus favela project for poor and homeless kids and familes in Minas Gerais. We then headed off to Claudinho’s home in the favelas. It was his birthday, and we all celebrated with a huge street roda, churrasco, and samba and forro on his terrace. For the other six from GBC Japan it was their first time in the infamous favelas. The subject of the movie “City of God” and much to the horror of their parents, their very first exposure to true Brazilian culture!

It was a great party, but the fun had to end when the search for our Brazilian accomodation began. This problem become the thorn is all our sides, but was just part of being in Brazil. We ended up staying in 3 different places in one week, and finally settled down in the communal apartment of the Bantus Malaysia crew.

The next few days were filled with capoeira, maculele, samba, dança afro, percussion, forro, eating authentic Brazilian food, and getting around on Belo Horizonte’s relatively good public transport system.

Most days started with a breakfast of coffee and pastels (fried snacks filled with meat or vegetables). Then we headed to the academia to take part in various workshops and lectures about the history of capoeira. After that we all assembled at the “Praça da Savassi” in front of McDonalds for the street roda. Then we would go back to the academia, have lunch at the PF restaurant or a energy boosting snack of açai na tigela, some more capoeira at the academia, then we ended up downtown at the Cultural Center for more workshops of samba, forro, percussion, dança afro, and capoeira. Each night finished with a roda of angola and regional in the atmospheric courtyard of the cultural center. Around midnight we’d end up back at the PF restaurant for a meal of beans, rice, meat and vegies, the Brazilian way.

Throughout the festival there were special street rodas for beginners, green and green/yellow cords, yellow and yellow/blue, and blue and above to compete against each other for the Bantus World Championship.
The winners and runners-up were:

CORAL (White/Black/Red – MEN)
1st: Kamikaze (Brazil)
2nd: Pimpolho (Brazil), Chacal (Australia)
3rd: Quati (Japan)

CORAL (White/Black/Red – WOMEN)
1st: Marissa (Malaysia)
2nd: Fernanda (Brazil)
3rd: Tampinha (Brazil)

VERDE & VERDE/AMARELO (Green & Green/Yellow – MEN)
1st: Grao (Brazil)
2nd: Cueca (Malaysia)
3rd: Coelho (Malaysia)

VERDE & VERDE/AMARELO (Green & Green/Yellow – WOMEN)
1st: Cinzerim (Brazil)
2nd: Zangada (Australia)
3rd: Xina (Brazil)

AMARELO & AMARELO/AZUL (Yellow & Yellow/Blue – MEN)
1st: Rafael (Brazil/Malaysia)
2nd: Bicudo (Brazil)
3rd: Canguru (Australia)

AMARELO & AMARELO/AZUL (Yellow & Yellow/Blue – WOMEN)
1st: Marmota (Brazil)

AZUL (Blue and above)
1st: Gringo (Brazil/Australia)

Besides the three students from Japan and numerous other students to receive their coral/verde cords, the batizado also included a huge list of troca de cordas (change of cords) amongst the senior ranks.

Green to Green/Yellow
Cinzerim (Brazil)
Xina (Brazil)
Zangada (Australia)

Green/Yellow to Yellow
Grao (Brazil)
Lobao (Brazil)

Yellow to Yellow/Blue
David (Brazil)
Guinho (Brazil)
Rafael (Brazil/Malaysia)
Canguru (Australia)
Lepra (Brazil)
Bicudo (Brazil)

Yellow/Blue to Blue (Aluno Graduado)
Claudinho (Brazil/Singapore)
Tyson (Brazil)
Marmota (Brazil)

Blue/Green to Blue/Green/White (Professor)
Gringo (Brazil/Australia)

Congratulations everyone, especially to my first capoeira instructor in Australia, Canguru, and to my hero Gringo, you’re finally “Professor”! Now we have to change all the t-shirts and uniforms to read “Professor Gringo”.

Other highlights included:
Lanterna (Yoshiko), Coruja (Noriko), and Cotonete’s (Hiroshi) batizado and capoeira nickname roda.
Meeting the great Mestre Joao Pequeno.
Spending time with Mestre Pintor.
Meeting Mestres Sena and Escamoso from Bantus Rio de Janeiro and Montes Claros.
Meeting guest Mestres Tamandua, Jaime de Mar Grande, Ciro, and Joao.
Meeting and hanging out in Belo Horizonte with the other instructors and students from Bantus Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Holland.
Being inspired by the senior members of Bantus Brasil, and seeing some of the young upcoming students show so much motivation and determination.
And the list goes on…

So, our next international trip will be to Australia for their 10th Anniversary in 2007, and another trip to Brazil is scheduled for 2008 to refresh our capoeira skills, learn some more portuguese, and show a new batch of students from Japan what Brazil is all about.

But you don’t have to wait for me to plan an overseas trip, if you ever end up in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Australia, Germany, Holland, Israel, or Brazil, you’re guaranteed a place to stay, train, and soak up the local vibe. Your Bantus Capoeira family are waiting for your visit!

If you get your asses over to Malaysia, Singapore, or Australia in November/December you’ll have this to look forward to!