Capoeira music
In capoeira, music sets the rhythm, the style of play, and the energy of a game. In its most traditional setting, there are three main styles of song that weave together the structure of the capoeira roda. The roda represents the most strict and traditional format for capoeira and is ideally suited for an introduction and discussion of the music. Though we may consider the music traditional, because it has been passed orally from one to the next until the early - mid 20th century when songs and rhythms began to be notated and recorded, there is no record  of to what extent and exactly how the music has evolved over time. Capoeira's Brazilian heritage plays a heavy role in the way capoeira is perceived by its practitioners and understood at a subconscious level. It is a common feature of many Brazilian ethnic groups, for instance, as well as others throughout the world, that music is not so much a form of personal entertainment as it is a medium to bring about group cohesion and dynamic. Music in the context of capoeira is used to create a sacred space through both the physical act of forming a circle  (the roda) and an aural space that is believed to connect to the spirit world. This deeper religious significance exists more as a social memory to most capoeira groups, but is generally understood as evidenced in the use of ngoma drums (the atabaques of Yoruba candomblé), the berimbau whose earlier forms were used in rituals in Africa and the diaspora in speaking with ancestors, the ever-present term axé which signifies life force, the invocation of both Afro-Brazilian and Catholic spirituality, and certain semi-ritualized movements used in Capoeira Angola that bring "spiritual protection". The instruments are: up to  3 berimbaus up to 2 pandeiros 1 agogô 1 reco-reco (notched wooden tube similar to a guiro) 1 atabaque or conga Not every roda will contain all these instruments. Mestre Bimba, for instance, preferred only one berimbau and two pandeiros in his rodas, but there will always be at least one berimbau in any roda. The berimbaus preside over the roda, their rhythmic combinations suggesting variations in movement style between the two players in the roda. Some capoeira groups insist that among the three berimbaus, the lowest-toned (called a "gunga" or "berraboi") is the lead instrument, while other  groups follow the lead of the middle ("medio" or "viola") berimbau. The roda begins and ends at the discretion of the lead berimbau player, who may determine who plays next, can stop games, set the tempo of the music, and calm the players if they get too rough. There appears to be agreement that the treble-most berimbau ("viola" or "violinha") is an accompaniment instrument, freely improvising based on rhythms of the middle instrument. On song meaning and importance. Understanding songs in capoeira is a good way to grasp and put into some historical context early Brazilian life and history . If one can identify with the music on a personal level, it goes a long way in adopting the heritage vital in the maintenance of capoeira as a cultural force. The songs of capoeira partly play the role of cultural guide and teacher. The songs, whether ladainha, corrido, or quadra, can be placed in many categories for comparison. The following list is not exhaustive Many songs can be considered cross categorizational, as well. Ladainha. The roda commences with the ladainha (litany), a solo often sung by the most senior member present, usually the one playing lead berimbau. These songs may  be improvised on the spot, but are most often chosen from a canon of extant ladainhas. The ladainha varies in from as little as two lines, to 20 or more. Topics for this song type include moral lessons, stories, history, mythology, can be topical for a particular occasion as well as pure poetry, and almost always metaphorical. The song is loosely strophic and the melody is pretty much the same throughout the entire ladainha repertoire, with some variations here and there. The ladainha uses quatrain form as a template, with the first line almost always repeated. Iê...ê Eu já  vivo enjoado Eu já vivo enjoado de viver aqui na terra amanhã eu vou pra lua falei com minha mulher ela então me respondeu que nos vamos se deus quiser Vamos fazer um ranchinho todo feito de sapé amanhã as sete horas nos vamos tomar café e o que eu nunca acreditei, o que não posso me conformar que a lua vem à terra e a terra vem à lua todo isso é conversa pra comer sem trabalhar o senhor, amigo meu, colega velho escute bem ao meu cantar quem é dono não ciuma e quem não é vai ciumar  camaradinho Ieeeee I am sick of living here on Earth Tomorrow I'll go to the Moon I said to my wife And she responded Then we'll go, God willing We'll have a little ranch All made of straw Tomorrow morning at seven We'll have some coffee What I never believed Nor could I ever confirm The moon would come to Earth And the Earth to the Moon This is just talk to eat without working Sir, good friend, old colleague Listen well to my song He who is the master of his land doesn't envy  And he who isn't certainly will Camaradinho An interpretation of this song could be: Nothing comes easy without hard work. The person who sings the ladainha cries out "Ieeeeeeee" (pronounced YaaaaaaaaY) to call to order the attendees of the roda, that the roda is starting. The ladainha ends with "Camará", "Camaradinho" (fits better rhythmically), or conversely, "É hora, hora" (It's the hour). This tagline marks the end of the ladainha and the beginning of the chula, or more properly louvação (praise). Louvação. The louvação begins the call and response section of the roda. The louvação invokes God, Mestres , capoeira, and gives thanks. This section are also called "Chulas. "(Italicized line is the chorus) Iê, Viva meu Deus "Iê, Viva meu Deus, camará" Iê, Viva meu Mestre "Iê, Viva meu Mestre, camará" Iê, quem me ensinou "Iê, quem me ensinou, camará" Iê, a capoeira "Iê, a capoeira, camará" É Água de beber "Iê, Água de beber, camará" É ferro de bater "Iê, ferro de bater, camará" É ngoma de ngoma etc... Long live my God Long live my Master Who taught me Capoeira It is water for drinking It is Iron for striking It is from the sacred drums  The content of the louvação can be improvised as well, so having a good ear is critical to singing the chorus. The louvação, just as the ladainha, is strophic, but there is no variation in the melody from one louvação to another. However while it is most often sung in a major tonality, sometimes it can be heard in minor if the ladainha is also minor. The chorus is sung in unison, though an occasional harmonization, usually a third above, is sometimes used as a punctuation by one of the singers. The two players/jogadores having sat at the pé -de-berimbau, or foot of the berimbau, during the ladainha, begin the game at the start of the corridos. Corrido. The corridos are overlapping call and response typical of African singing, and influenced by, and borrowing from the Sambas de Roda of Bahia. Unlike the Mexican Corrido which is a form of folk ballad, the Bahian corrido is a short song with a usually static response. The chorus is often indicated by being used as the first line in the song: Ai, ai, aidê oiá Joga bonito que eu quero ver "Ai, ai, aidê" oiá Joga bonito que eu quero  aprender "Ai, ai, aidê" oiá nossa senhora quem vai me protejer Ai, ai, aidê (a girl's name) Play beautifully so I can see Play beautifully so I can learn Our Lady will protect me The corrido communicates with the action in the roda (though without the level of interaction in a traditional samba de roda) to inspire the players, to comment directly on the action, invokes, praises, warns, tells stories, and teaches moral values. There is a corrido for welcoming the roda, for closing the roda, asking for the players to play less aggressively, more aggressively, to not grab  the other person, and the list continues. Corridos can also be challenges (desafios). The lead will sing a corrido then after some time sing one very similar, requiring the chorus (everyone else save the two playing in the roda) to be paying close attention to sing the correct response or two singers can switch corridos on a certain subject. This use of the corrido in a roda is more rare, requiring a bit more expertise on the part of the singers than normal. The desafio/challenge can be used with ladainhas as well. The corridos have the broadest melodic variation  from one to the next, though many corridos share the same melodies. Thus a vast repertoire of corridos can be learned and improvisation within corridos becomes a less daunting prospect. Like the louvação, the corrido response is sung in unison, and like the louvação an occasional harmonization, usually a third above, is used as a punction by one of the singers. Quadra. An innovation of Mestre Bimba, quadras take the place of the ladainha in some Regional and Contemporânea capoeira schools. They are four, eight, twelve (...) verse songs sung solo followed by the louvação. The main difference between the ladainha  and quadra is that the quadra, like the corrido, doesn't have a standard melodic model and exhibits a greater variety melody. Quadras also exist as a special type of corrido with four line solo verses followed by the choral response, such as the following: Capenga ontem teve aqui Capenga ontem teve aqui Deu dois mil réis a papai Três mil réis a mamãe Café e açúcar a vovó Deu dois vintém a mim Sim senhor, meu camará Quando eu entrar, você entra Quando eu sair, você sai Passar bem, passar mal Mas tudo no mundo é passar Ha ha  ha Água de beber (start chorus) The Chula controversy. The term chula is often given to the call and response louvação immediately following the ladainha. By comparison, traditionally in Bahia the chula is the free form song text of the Samba de Roda sung between the dances (as in the samba parada) and defines the structures of the various other "styles" of samba de roda, while the samba corrido lasts as long as the singer feels like singing it before moving on to another. The chula is a poetic form based on the quadra (quatrain) form (which may have influenced  Mestre Bimba's replacement of ladainhas with quadras) with its roots in Iberia. The word chula comes from the word chulo meaning "vulgar", common, rustic (similarly the Spanish word chulo/chulito is used for peasant Indians in the Americas), being often pastoral and sentimental. How the term chula came to refer to the louvação isn't currently known. But its similarity to the ladainha and the use of corrido songs from the samba de roda tradition probably played a large role. Melody and Rhythm. For the "berimbau" toques, see the articles Berimbau and capoeira toques The melodies range from a  fifth above (sometimes up to a sixth) and a third below the tonic: A (B) C D E (F) G (A), where C is tonic, the leading tone (B), fourth (f) and the sixth (A) are generally avoided. See Degree (music). The ladainha may include the fourth below the tonic at the cadence as a tagline with "camaradinho" to signal the beginning of the louvação. Rather than a tonic-dominant relationship, the ladainhas exhibit a tonic-supertonic progression (incidentally bossa nova exhibits a similar tendency for unrelated reasons) where harmonic tension is always on the 2nd scale degree, D in  the key of C. Rhythmically, the music is in 4/4 time, common for music in the Angolan region of Africa, where the rhythms of both Brazilian samba and Cuban guaguancó have their origins. The singing is in Portuguese with some Kikongo and Yoruba words and phrases. The lyrics align themselves with the rhythm of the music, sometimes coming in on the strong beats, sometimes on the weak beats and pickups, depending on the vagaries of the song. It is theorized that the rhythms of capoeira are indeed from Angola, however, the introduction of the berimbau to capoeira was relatively recent  (at least since the late 19th century) and the original songs, instrumentation, and rhythms are now lost. Capoeira in its earlier form was accompanied by omar in kikongo, hand clapping, and percussion accompaniment on a transverse hand drum. Since then, a number of instruments, including whistles, castanets, and violas (small Brazilian guitars), and likely any instrument available, have been used into the early 20th century. The berimbau itself has been a folk instrument for solo song accompaniment and worship and became a mainstay of the roda when metal wire was widely available for use as a string. Before then, berimbaus  were strung with plant fibers and thus could not project as loudly as with metal (nowadays, the wire is culled from used car and bicycle tires). Brass wire was observed being used on berimbaus, though, as early as 1824 in Rio. The caxixi's inclusion with the berimbau is another recent innovation that gives the berimbau an extra bit of punch. A theory goes that berimbaus were fitted with metal blades at the top which made them a defensive weapon when playing capoeira openly (which was essentially outlawed until the 1930s) was a dangerous affair. Minor Tonality Ladainhas. The minor  tonality ladainhas are rarer but have precedence. Mestre Traira demonstrates their use in his CD, Mestre Traira: Capoeira da Bahia. He uses a minor pentatonic scale: This produces an interesting variation on the more common Ladainha melody. The Louvação is in the same pentatonic with the correspónding corridos reworked in the pentatonic as well. Syncopation. Unlike the majority of Brazilian music, the syncopation in this music is a bit more subtle, relying on the interplay between the rhythm of the lyrics and the weak and strong beats of the isorhythmic cells played by the instruments, shifting the feeling of the  downbeat from corrido to corrido, and interlocking/overlapping call and response driving the music forward. Below are two musical bars separated by the bar line |. The downbeats are defined as 1 and 3, the upbeats as 2 and 4, and the anticipation, or pick up, lies between 4 and 1. The Angola and São Bento Pequeno rhythms for which capoeira Angola is known for, create a syncopation through silence on 3, and stressing 4 with two short buzzed notes (see berimbau). The São Bento Grande rhythm stresses both downbeats on the berimbaus which has the effect of a driving  march (played in a quick double time tempo). The atabaque serves as the heart beat of the music, providing a steady pulse on 1 and 3 with open tones, often with an anticipation to 1, and a muted bass on 2.: The agogô, a double bell tuned to an open fourth or fifth, plays: Reco-reco, likewise The pandeiro, has a bit more freedom than the other instruments Another version provides The final t can be replaced with an open tone using the middle finger a little further away from the rim. The effect of the supporting instruments together, is  to build tension from an anticipation just before 1 (the third open note played by the atabaque) to 2, and resolution on 3, which then pushes the cell forward with the anticipation at the pick up to 1. As the berimbaus play with and against this framework along with the song verses, a surprising amount of syncopation results, despite the simple nature of the patterns. There is very little room allowed for improvisation in these supporting instruments. To allow otherwise would tend to distract too much from the content of the songs and the action inside the roda, as well  as compete for attention with the berimbaus. There is still room, however, for occasional variations on the basic rhythms by the supporting instruments, especially when the overall energy of the roda is fairly high. The berimbau toques follow the pattern of the supporting instruments, but with a broad arena for improvising. The above on syncopation also follows with the berimbau. In the case of the Angola toque (the half notes below in this case represent unmuted quarter notes): The silence at 3 gives a lilt to the feeling of resolution, while the São Bento Grande toque contrasts with a greater  sense of finality at 3. The viola berimbau, the highest pitched of the three, adds a layer of rhythmic improvisation, similar to the role of the quinto (drum) in Cuban rumba, though without the layer of rhythmic possibilities allowed for in rumba (which uses at least nine subdivisions of the bar). The following illustrates the possible subdivisions for improvisation in capoeira music in a single four beat bar: