Sabia cantou no pé da laranjeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Ela cantou ao som de uma viola
Ela cantou ao som de uma viola
Vou fazer jogo de dentro, vou fazer jogo de fora
Vou fazer jogo de dentro, vou fazer jogo de fora
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Ela cantou ao som do berimbau
Ela cantou ao som do berimbau
Vou fazer jogo de angola e tambem regional
Vou fazer jogo de angola e tambem regional
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Sabiá cantou, bonito de se ver
Sabiá cantou e é bonito de se ver
Vou jogar a capoeira e bater maculelê
Vou jogar a capoeira e bater maculelê
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Sabiá cantou no pé da laranjeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Vou tocar meu berimbau e vou jogar capoeira
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
She sang to the sound of a viola
She sang to the sound of a viola
I’m going to play inside, I’m going to play outside
I’m going to play inside, I’m going to play outside
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
She sang to the sound of the berimbau
She sang to the sound of the berimbau
I’m going to play Angola and also regional games
I’m going to play Angola and also regional games
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
Sabiá sang, beautiful to see
Sabiá sang and it’s beautiful to see
I’m going to play capoeira and beat maculelê
I’m going to play capoeira and beat maculelê
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
Sabiá sang at the orange tree
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
I will play my berimbau and will play capoeira
Did you know?
Angola
- Angola is the West-Central African nation that serves as the primary ancestral and cultural birthplace of the rhythms, movements, and spiritual roots of capoeira.
- During the transatlantic slave trade, millions of people were forcibly taken from this region to Brazil, bringing with them rich martial traditions like the combat dance N'golo.
- The country's deep historical connection is permanently embedded in the art through Capoeira Angola, the traditional style dedicated to preserving these original roots.
- The name is universally celebrated in the roda through countless traditional songs that invoke Angola as a sacred land of ancestors, memory, and profound longing.
- The primary instrument of the art, the berimbau, is directly tied to Angolan musical heritage, evolving from traditional bow instruments like the mbulumbumba.
- Today, capoeiristas view the nation as a ultimate cultural touchstone, representing the unbreakable bond between African resistance and Brazilian identity.
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.
Capoeira Regional
- Capoeira Regional is a modern, fast-paced, and highly combative style of the art created in the 1930s by the legendary Mestre Bimba in Salvador, Bahia.
- The style was designed to rescue capoeira from social marginalization by transforming it into a highly structured, efficient, and respected martial art.
- Mestre Bimba revolutionized the discipline by integrating elements of batuque and gymnastics, creating a faster game played higher off the ground with explosive kicks.
- It introduced systematic training innovations, including the world's first official capoeira academy, standardized combat sequences, and a graduation system using colored scarves.
- The musical structure is traditionally minimalist compared to older styles, using only one berimbau and two pandeiros to drive a clean, aggressive, and rapid rhythm.
- Today, it stands as a monumental milestone that helped legalize the art nationwide, establishing a rigorous training philosophy followed by capoeiristas worldwide.
Maculelê
- Maculelê is a vibrant Afro-Brazilian warrior dance that was rescued from near-extinction in the 1940s by Mestre Popó in Santo Amaro, Bahia.
- Mestre Popó formed the historic troupe that standardized the choreography, songs, and dynamic stick-striking steps practiced today.
- Due to his vital preservation work, early capoeira masters quickly integrated this high-energy performance into their own academies.
- The dance simulates a fluid combat scenario where capoeiristas form a circle and strike wooden sticks or machetes to a blistering rhythm.
- The music is driven by the booming beat of the atabaque drum, paired with traditional chants that honor plantation history and local heroes.
- Today, capoeiristas train in this art to dramatically improve their agility, physical coordination, and rhythmic timing inside the roda.
Viola
- The viola—or violinha—is the highest-pitched berimbau in the orchestra, distinct for having the smallest gourd resonator and the most rigid wooden staff.
- Because its thicker wood requires immense physical strength to flex and string tightly, it produces a very sharp, bright, and piercing acoustic sound.
- In the musical hierarchy of the roda, it serves as the ultimate soloist, breaking away from the steady baseline rhythm maintained by the deeper instruments.
- Its primary role is to improvise, add rhythmic fills, and inject intricate variations that add texture and high energy to the atmosphere.
- It cuts through the heavy collective sound of the percussion easily, creating tiny acoustic spaces for expressive, advanced musical details.
- For capoeiristas, mastering the viola represents a high level of musical maturity, acting like a lead guitar that drives the spirit and flavor of the game.