Meu sangue não corre na veia, ele ginga
Eu sou capoeira, camará
Quando eu ouço o som do berimbau
Meu corpo se arrepia
Capoeira tá no meu DNA
Meu sangue não corre na veia, ele ginga
Eu sou capoeira, camará
Quando eu ouço o som do berimbau
Meu corpo se arrepia
Capoeira tá no meu DNA
My blood doesn’t run through my veins, it gingas
I’m capoeira, comrade
When I hear the sound of the berimbau
My body shivers
Capoeira is in my DNA
My blood doesn’t run through my veins, it gingas
I’m capoeira, comrade
When I hear the sound of the berimbau
My body shivers
Capoeira is in my DNA
Did you know?
Berimbau
- The berimbau is a single-string musical bow of African origin that functions as the absolute leader and commander of the roda.
- The instrument dictates the exact speed, stylistic tone, and combat intensity of the capoeiristas through specific rhythms known as toques.
- A traditional berimbau is constructed from a wooden staff, a steel wire, a hollowed gourd resonator, a small stone or coin, a bamboo shaker, and a wooden thin stick.
- In a traditional orchestra, three distinct pitches are used: the deep-toned gunga to lead the group, the medium médio to hold the rhythm, and the high-pitched viola to improvise.
- Enslaved Africans historically used the live music of the bow to camouflage their outlawed martial art, making the training look like an innocent dance to colonial authorities.
- Today, the instrument holds a sacred status within the art, and capoeiristas show immense reverence toward it, celebrating its spiritual voice in countless traditional songs.