Above article about Capoeira. Try product from the bottom of this blog under sponsor links. ^_^
Cordão de Ouro Atlanta demonstrated the martial art of Capoeira during the Arts in the Heart festivities in downtown Augusta as a representative of Brazil.
Cordão de Ouro, which is Portuguese for "golden cord," is a global organization founded by Mestre (Portuguese for "master") Reinaldo Suassuna as a way to spread the art of Capoeira.
"Mestre Suassuna for me and for Brazilians is a big mestre in Brazil," said Muriel Ribeiro, a contra mestre in Capoeira and student of Suassuna. "You cannot find someone equal to Mestre Suassuna. He is very rich in culture and Capoeira."
Ribiero started his Capoeira training at the age of 18 in São Paulo, Brazil, but when Ribeiro decided to teach Capoeira himself, he thought that Brazil already knew about the art.
"I decided I wanted to go some place different and show my culture and show the dances, the music and the art," Ribiero said. "The University of California brought me here the first time for one month and I liked (it), so I thought I would try to stay here in the United States. I went to California, Florida, New York, but I love Atlanta. I came here five years ago, and one student saw me and he loved my performance. He said to "Come to Atlanta, I'm going to help you." This made a difference because I had some support for (Capoeira). When you don't have support it is hard when you go to another country and try to start your life."
Cordão de Ouro Atlanta was founded in 2006 by Ribeiro, who not only teaches students the martial art, but he also teaches students how to play the instruments that are involved in traditional Capoeira events.
"The main instrument for Capoeira is an instrument from Africa, called the berimbau," said Ramon Ramesha, a native of Brazil. "It is a bow, called the verga, a string and a gourd. With these three pieces, we put it together and we make different sounds which gives the rhythm for the games of Capoeira. The drums just give companionship to the berimbau. At the end of our performance we have a batucada, which is samba. It was also developed in Brazil, and it's just like a style of music in Brazil."
Ramesha has been involved with the culture of Capoeira, but had never studied it seriously. After Ramesha came to the United States from Brazil in 2004 and met Muriel, he started to take capoeira seriously. Cordão de Ouro helped him adjust to the culture shock.
"As a matter of fact when I came into the United States I didn't know how to speak English," Ramesha said. "I had to learn how to speak a brand new language so I would feel a little bit depressed because I couldn't talk and have a conversation with anyone. I wasn't doing Capoeira. I didn't have any Brazilian friends here, so it was different."
Cordão de Ouro also has members that are not native Brazilians. Ivan Brown, has been practicing the art for three years, saw a live demonstration of Capoeira in Hawaii, and was so impressed that he looked for schools when he moved to Atlanta. Capoeira has provided him with more experiences than he expected to get out of it.
"I came into Capoeira for training martial arts, but then it turned into learning Portuguese and singing songs, playing instruments, performing shows, breathing fire and all these other things that I had no idea about before. It's just a rich cultural experience."
Derrick Burns, a student of three years has discovered Capoeira and Cordão de Ouro in a slightly different fashion.
"It's funny, I first learned of Capoeira through a movie a long time ago when I was in middle school in my hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina," Burns said. "They had no Capoeira schools at all, so I had no opportunity to train until I got to college. I actually found [Cordão de Ouro] doing community service. I went over to them and I asked about the group and it's been on since then."
Burns has taken a deep interest in the Brazilian culture and the history ever since.
"A lot of people don't know the slave history down in Brazil," Burns said. "More Africans went to Brazil than to the Americas and the Caribbean combined. To this day, the second-highest African population is in Brazil. The Brazilian culture is all based off of Africa. One thing I love about Brazil is they pretty much 'give props' to the African culture. There are actually no 'black (people),' it's just one people in Brazil, so that's what makes it attractive to us. I urge everyone to do their research on Brazil. Brazil is the true melting pot."
Cordão de Ouro is always open for anyone interested in learning more about the art and culture of Brazil.
"Capoeira is for men, kids and women," Ramesha said. "Capoeira is for everybody; every shape, every size, every height. It doesn't matter how old you are, how heavy you are, how thin you are. It's not only a martial art: Capoeira is a philosophy of life. Capoeira is getting in touch with your own roots. It gives me peace of body and peace of mind. It's just like 'relax time' for me. "
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