Welcome to capoeirahistory.com

a website dedicated to the history of capoeira.

Our aim is to provide you with reliable information, which is backed up by research and evidence. The massive growth of capoeira worldwide has created an increased need for information on its history and traditions.

The site will focus on two projects:

Angolan Roots

The Angolan Roots of Capoeira presents some of the findings of a research project started in 2006. It more particularly explores capoeira’s possible links with Angolan combat games and musical bows.

Capoeira in RJ

The history of capoeira in Rio de Janeiro, 1948-82, This more recent project (2018-) investigates a period we consider crucial for the development of the so-called “capoeira contemporânea”.

Youtube

The CapoeiraHistory channel on Youtube. Here you can assist all the clips and documentary films and clips of our projects.

Contemporary capoeira is an umbrella term that includes the various forms and styles that are practiced around the world today.

This formative period of the 1940s to the 1980s, in Rio de Janeiro, was essential for the constitution of capoeira contemporânea but has not yet received the attention it deserves.

The internet provides us with fantastic resources.

At the same time, it induces the production and potentializes the circulation of fake news.

Capoeira traditions are in the public domain and no doubt, capoeiristas, in particular, should have easy access to information about this immaterial heritage. On the other side we don’t accept that work by living artists should be reproduced without asking for their consent, eventually preventing them to make a living from their art. For that reason, we think transparency is important. We aim to obtain authorisations and provide references of all the sources we display. We also endeavour to discover new sources through our research and create new resources by interviewing masters with significant experience and knowledge of capoeira history. We furthermore intend to provide a space for creative work related to capoeira, for example photography, poetry, and music.We believe that the knowledge of capoeira’s rich history can inform debates about capoeira’s role in the contemporary world. We hope to contribute to this in collaboration with other like-minded capoeira researchers, mestres, groups and websites.

Blog

Jogo Da Navalha Cover 2

By Roberto Pereira. Little is known about the use of the jackknife in capoeira of…

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Artur Emídio Bem Jovem Em Foto De Viagem. Camisa Social E Chapéu.

By Roberto Pereira. In the early 1950s, the young Artur Emídio de Oliveira (1930 –…

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Lanças Moura

By Marcos Leitão de Almeida. In her post for this blog, historian Mariana Candido rightly…

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Frede Abreu Destaque

By Maria Luísa Pimenta Neves. Frederico José de Abreu (1946-2013), known in capoeira circles as…

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