São José cadê o recado
Que São Pedro mandou você me dá
Recado é esse…meu amigo
O que São Jorge mandou pagar
Dois berimbaus e um atabaque
Para a roda que vai ter lá
Samba de roda, Maculelê e Capoeira
Por favor não faça asneira
Pr’essa roda começar
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba camará
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba camará
Samba menino, mostra que você é bamba
Dentro da roda de samba o Capoeira vai sambar
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba camará
Samba menino, mostra que você é bamba
Mostra que o corpo balança, sem sequer escorregar
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba camará
Saint Joseph, where is the message
that Saint Peter ordered you to give me
This is the message…My friend
that Saint Jorge ordered to fullfill
Two berimbaus and one atabaque
for the roda that will take place
A roda of Samba, Maculelê and Capoeira
Please don’t make mistakes
Because the roda starts
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba my friend
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba my friend
Samba boy, show that you are tough
In the samba-roda, the Capoeirista goes samba
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba my friend
Samba boy, show that you are tough
Show that your body is in balance without sliding
Samba samba, samba Capoeira
Samba samba, samba my friend
Did you know?
Atabaque
- The atabaque is a large, hand-carved wooden drum of African origin that provides the deep, foundational heartbeat and grounding bass line for the capoeira orchestra.
- In the musical layout of the roda, it holds a critical position by anchoring the pulse of the room and maintaining the strict tempo dictated by the leading gunga berimbau.
- The drum is constructed in a conical shape from wooden staves bound together with iron hoops, topped with a stretched animal hide head that is tuned using wooden wedges and ropes.
- Capoeiristas play it using open-hand palm strikes and finger slaps on the drumhead, creating low bass tones and high, sharp rims that drive the forward momentum of the music.
- In the traditional setup of Capoeira Angola, a single atabaque is placed at the far end of the instrument row, locking the rhythm tightly with the pandeiros.
- Beyond its musical purpose, it holds a sacred, spiritual role rooted in Afro-Brazilian traditions, functioning as a powerful engine that elevates the physical energy of the capoeiristas.
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.
Samba
- Samba is a vibrant Brazilian musical genre and dance form that shares deep West African roots, historical resistance, and an unbreakable cultural bond with capoeira.
- In the context of the roda, samba functions as an essential companion art, most famously expressed through the high-energy samba de roda performed immediately after the martial matches conclude.
- Enslaved Africans in Bahia developed both arts simultaneously as overlapping tools for community celebration, psychological release, and the survival of ancestral rhythms.
- The music relies on identical percussion instruments found in capoeira, such as the pandeiro and atabaque, to drive the syncopated, polyrhythmic foundation of the dance.
- Training in the dance directly benefits capoeiristas by sharpening their physical footwork, rhythm, agility, and the streetwise cunning known as malandragem.
- Today, concluding a gathering with this dance serves to transform the combative tension of the martial art into pure collective joy, unity, and shared cultural pride.