ABOUT THE ALBUM

Carangolo features the music of Capoeira Angola, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines music, movement, and philosophy. Led by Mestre Silvinho, this album includes studio produced tracks at Sage Arts and a live recording of a roda at the Union Cultural Center, where ICAF Seattle trains.

This album is a collaboration between FICA Seattle and Sage Arts Recording Studio. It features two separate recording sessions with Mestre Silvinho’s Capoeira students and the Berimbau Orchestra, an offshoot project with his students led by Leika Suzumura and Contra-mestre Caxambu. The first session took place at Sage Arts Studios in Arlington, WA, with engineer Jordan Cunningham. During that day, we recorded new and traditional corridos and ladainhas. We also recorded a number of tracks performed by the berimbau orchestra to celebrate the musical dimension of capoeira and the creative aspects of the ensemble. We sought out a studio recording for these songs in order to fully capture the rich sound of the berimbau while balancing the full range of frequencies within the entire bateria. In addition, we chose to have minimal and unobtrusive studio processing.

The second recording session took place during a live roda at the Union Cultural Center, our capoeira home, in the heart of the International district in Seattle, WA. In this recording, we sought to honor the deep conversation between music, movement, and philosophy within capoeira angola.

This project emerged through a partnership between Mestre Silvinho and Emily Silks, a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, whose work realizes documentation and archival projects as community arts resources.

With roots in West Africa, capoeira originated in Brazil around 1600 as away for Afro-descendents to resist and overthrow the institution of slavery, which they never accepted. Directed by the sounds of the musical bow called berimbau, its music, dance, movements, and rituals became symbols of resilience and community building, connecting Afro-Brazilians to a heritage and dignity from which the slave trade sought to separate them.

Mestre Silvinho’s studio is part of the International Capoeira AngolaFoundation (ICAF) which was founded in 1996 under the vision of both Mestre Jurandir, Mestre Cobra and Mestre Valmir. In 1997, Mestre Jurandir began the Seattle chapter of ICAF. Today, the Union Cultural Center (UCC)is the house of ICAF Seattle along with other cultural arts of the African diaspora such as Western African Dance, Samba, Fandango, Bomba, Afro-Peruvian ensembles, and more. The UCC is a collective art space and nonprofit organization that supports and empowers artists, creatives, and activist communities across Seattle.

TRACK LISTING & LYRICS

BEHIND THE SCENES

Growing up in Northern California with just enough internet to load ultimate-guitar.com pages, Jordan started playing and recording music as a teenager. After college, he began as an intern at Prairie Sun Studios in the San Francisco bay area to assist a wide variety of producers & engineers in the recording process of both independent and major label records.

Moving to Seattle in 2011 to work for producer Michael Connolly, he started producing albums and EPs for local Seattle artists out of Empty Sea Studios, Studio Litho and other various studios around Washington state. In 2016, he was invited to become the chief engineer and manager of Sage Arts Recording outside of Seattle.

Emily Silks (they/them) is a PhD Candidate and Graduate Instructor in Ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, currently serving as the Archivist for Northwest Folklife. In their doctoral research, Emily is committed to realizing recording projects, archives, and digital humanities as community resources through collaborative projects with local non-profits and artists in Seattle. The production of Carangolo has opened the door to Capoeira for Emily and they have been training and researching Capoeira Angola ever since.

I am filled with gratitude for all the participants and their family members who came together to contribute to this album. The success of Carangolo is a testament to Mestre Silvinho’s and Leika’s leadership and vision. Thank you both for believing in this project.

Thank you to the FICA Seattle capoeiristas, who’ve taught me so much about community, camaraderie, and integrity. Thank you to Treinel Matteo, who provided valuable editing and translation insight for this booklet. Thank you also to my partner Jocelyn, whose support and encouragement helped me step towards this project in the first place.

Lastly, thank you to Jordan Cunningham from Sage Arts, who volunteered his time, energy, and expertise to engineer this album. Without him, this project would not have been possible.

WORDS FROM THE ARTISTS

FICA Seattle proudly presents Carangolo, Como Vai, Como Passo, a work produced in partnership with Sage Arts Studios, Union Cultural Center, and produced by Emily Silks. During a Capoeira class that I was teaching for the Music Department at the University of Washington,I met Emily Silks, and during our conversations the idea of recording a Capoeira album emerged as a possibility and has now materialized as a reality. We present Carangolo and invite you to enjoy this small project by the FICA Seattle community with some recognized mistakes and valuable successes.

We open by remembering the story of Pedro Cem, who had a hundred of everything and ended up, due to arrogance and pride, with nothing. We then pay homage to Minas Gerais, where I began Capoeira inspired by the hands and feet of my late friend Chiquinho, the carangolo malungo to whom I dedicate this work.

Then the voices of those who are just arriving, the young and dedicated students in the“paranaues” of life, have permission to send their messages:

From their messages come the voices, the charisma, the sincerity of the children whose melody calms us, soothes us and gives us hope that another world is possible. And we continue with the journey through the live roda in our home, the Union Cultural Center, and then present the rhythms of the Berimbau, the greatest master of the roda. We end by remembering UBUNTU: I AM BECAUSE YOU ARE.

And so, with great humility, we invite you comrades to look around and ask those close to you,”Carangolo, como vai como passo?” (Friend, how are you doing?)

“In the first ladainha in Mestre Traira’s album (1963), the singer tells us about refusing to serve in the Brasilian war against Paraguay – a theme that recurs in the corrido ‘eu nao vou em Montevideo’ sung by Mestre Tiburcinho, recorded for the soundtrack of Jair Moura’s documentary ‘Dança de Guerra’ (1972). In the first ladainha from Mestre Moraes’ first album (1994), he challenges prominent racist narratives in Brasil.

Drawing on that legacy, my ladainha challenges the official portrayal of our government’s actions, citing two examples (among countless others) of the US government’s dishonorable conduct: the ongoing, shameful theft of the Black Hills(He Sapa, in Lakota), and the overthrow of the first government of an independent Congo, whose disgraceful epilogue was the brutal assassination of President Patrice Lumumba.

The final corrido (Adua, Adua) I sing similarly re-evaluates the history that I encountered as a high school student in Pistoia, Italy. I was told about the ‘defeatat Adua’ during the first Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1896) in school, but only as a passing comment, with no analysis or connection to the fact that my school is located on Adua avenue. My corrido celebrates Ethiopia’s victory at Adua againstan invasion whose commanders wanted to do to Ethiopians what the United States had done to Native Americans.”

“FICA is proud to feature students from the Seattle Amistad School Capoeira classes on this album. Amistad has been a cherished partner of FICA since 2012, where we provide students with weekly classes learning Capoeira movements, music, history and philosophy. The students selected the songs recorded on this album and took turns leading the call and response.

The Berimbau Orchestra is an extension of Capoeira music that invokes innovative musicality and dialogue between players. We included classic rhythms from the roda like Toque de Angola and Sao Bento Grande, while also preserving the historical significance of Cavalaria and Iuna. The song Triya came as an inspiration to me in the early months of COVID, perhaps as a way to sooth the uncertainty of the time. Triya’s layered rhythms represent the body (gunga), mind (medio) and spirit (viola). Hipi Hopido Brasil was a spontaneous song that emerged one evening when I was playing around with rhythms, inspired by hip hop instrumentals. My daughter, Saiyana, arrived home and instinctively flowed into a freestyle over the rhythm. What you hear on this album is the fruit from that musical pollination between mother and daughter.”

SPECIAL THANKS

I started training Capoeira Angola in 1986, in the city of Belo Horizonte MG, at the age of seventeen. In fact, capoeira knocked on my door. My brother at the time was already developing his career in music and the brother of my brother's musician friend started visiting our house. He knocked on the door of our house on Sunday morning, his name was Chiquinho. At the time, Chiquinho was already practicing Capoeria Angola in the Iuna de Capoeira Angola Group, and he brought the whole world of capoeira Angola to our home. As in Pedro Cem's ladainha, he knocked on our door, on Sundays, at 8 am, but not to ask for donations, just to talk. Chiquinho was a writer, designer, artist, he wrote poems and one thing that caught our attention was that he brought his books and sometimes did a handstand with his head on the ground and read his books to us while doing a handstand with his head on the ground. Chiquinho was a poet, a designer, that popular artist type who knows a lot about everything. He won our friendship and our hearts. One day he called my brother and I to start training Capoeira. We went to a soccer field and there we started with gingas and negativas, the year was 1986. We did about two or three Sundays I think, until one day Chiquinho said he was going to travel, he was going to leave Belo Horizonte but he left us the address of the capoeira group he participated in. I went there, my brother didn't go. That's how I arrived at Grupo Iuna de Capoeira Angola, I met Mestre Primo on the first day. Later, I met Mestre Rogerio and this is how I began my journey in Capoeira Angola. Thanks to Chiquinho, this friend and companion who today crossed the Kalunga line, went to the clouds, to do his handstands and read his poems to the people on the other side. Rest in God's peace, Chiquinho, my friend, inspiring badass guy, always with that mischievous smile. I dedicate this work to you, this collection of words, sounds and feelings expressed the way we are. You are Carangolo and you will forever remain in my heart, thanks brother. Thank you Chiquinho, you were the one who showed me the first steps of Capoeira Angola. My first Master. Thanks my friend...