UT students were given the chance to discover the sounds and culture of Brazil during an Afro-Brazilian drumming and dancing workshop held Thursday, Feb. 27.
Upon entering the Music Room of Plant Hall, students were greeted by several foreign instruments and appeared a bit apprehensive at the thought of having to learn capoeira within a matter of only two hours.
Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of dance and music. The sport of capoeira is never played without its own music, which is a call-and-response type of folk music. The music often details accounts of the history of capoeira or the doings of great mestres (teachers).
The lively workshop was organized by professor Andrew DeMil and was open to the public. DeMil specializes in foreign language and teaches beginning and intermediate Spanish courses as well as Portuguese. DeMil has been practicing capoeira since 2003.
“Capoeira is a really hard workout and there’s a really strong sense of community,” DeMil said. “You learn different cultural things like Portuguese and dances like the maculele and samba.”
The workshop began with a warm-up led by DeMil’s colleague, Eduardo Torres, who is a capoeira instructor. Torres first became involved in capoeira at the age of 16 and has been teaching it for the past 14 years. Torres teaches at various locations in Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg and Brandon under Tampa Bay Capoeira, an organization he founded himself.
Torres showed students how the different movements of capoeira, the pace of the music and one’s personal energy influence all elements of the art form.
“It’s all about energy. If the energy is high and the energy is good then good things will happen. We believe as capoeiristas if the energy is bad then of course something might happen that’s not right,” Torres said.
Students then transitioned into playing different instruments, which included a berimbau, atabaque and a pandeiro––all of which are integral to the sport of capoeira.
A berimbau is a single string percussion instrument or a musical bow that is considered the soul of capoeira because it leads the capoeiristas movement during the samba roda.
The atabaque is a tall, wooden hand drum. There are three types of atabaque: rum, the tallest with the lowest pitch; rum-pi, of medium height and in the middle pitch range; and le, the smallest and highest pitched. In Maculele, as many as three atabaques are used, and in capoeira, traditionally only one is used.
The pandeiro is a hand percussion instrument that resembles a tambourine. It is used both during capoeira and the samba.
After familiarizing themselves with each instrument, students had a full-on jam session in which they learned some of the traditional folk songs associated with both maculele and capoeira.
For UT sophomore Caio Amaral, the impromptu jam session allowed him to indulge in his culture and reminisce on the years he spent in Brazil as a child. The international business major was born in Brazil and moved at the age of 14.
“[The workshop] definitely brought back memories, and [I was] getting goosebumps because it reminds me of the Carnival and everything. I loved being there,” Amaral said.
Shortly after the brief music lesson, which drew in outside spectators, male and female students were split up into separate groups. Led by DeMil, female students began learning the movements involved in the samba de roda, and male students provided the mesmerizing sounds of the drums under the instruction of Torres.
The samba de roda is a traditional, rhythmically-driven dance that entails some footwork, singing and clapping.
Kristin Salimeno, a sophomore and environmental science major at UT, particularly enjoyed learning and participating in the samba de roda.
“I really liked watching everybody just let go and not care,” Salimeno said. “I liked having fun and not worrying about anybody else.”
Salimeno, like many of the other students in attendance, was a bit nervous prior to the workshop starting.
“I don’t really like dancing in front of people. So, it took me a while to convince myself to go,” Salimeno said.
However, the art of capoeira is all about having an open mind.
“You’ll be great at it. Everybody starts out the same way. So, you have to put yourself in a vulnerable place,” Torres said.
Kai Miller can be reached at kai.miller@spartans.ut.edu