Artist description There is no way to succinctly describe what capoeira is and do justice to the full range of its elegant complexity. Certainly, there are the graceful, acrobatic, gravity-defying movements and the gritty, sensuous music and the unabashed energy. There is also the oft-stated observation that capoeira resides in that uncategorizable space between a dance and a martial art, between a game and a full-on fight. But there are other, somewhat hidden layers to the art form. Capoeira is philosophy, it is theatre, it is ritual, it is poetry, it is history and social commentary. It can protect, it can satirize, it can seduce. It is, all at once, sacred and profane, tender and brazen, metaphoric and direct, playful and deadly serious. It is, as Mestre Pastinha elliptically remarked, “Everything the mouth eats.” There’s yet another dimension to capoeira which, surprisingly, often gets overlooked in discussions about the art. Capoeira has a remarkable ability to engender community; it can be and often is the catalyst for the forging of links between people of diverse backgrounds and disparate world views. These links are not only local: they also extend out internationally to the thousands of capoeira academies around the world. The roda is, after all, not only a circle, it is a wheel and it turns and moves. In this sense, it is impossible to speak anymore of capoeira as simply an Afro-Brazilian art form. It’s gone worldwide. This record is, more than anything else, documentation of this reality. Twenty-five years ago, when Mestre Jelon and Mestre Loremil first brought capoeira to New York City, it would have been inconceivable to imagine producing a capoeira record in the United States with such a large contribution from non-Brazilian capoeiristas. As far as we know, this is the first one. Let’s hope that there are more on the way. There’s a poignant comment from Mestre Canjiquinha which seemed particularly relevant during the process of making this CD. He said, “Capoeira for me is love, it is happiness, it is beauty.” For us in Capoeira Quilombo, there’s no doubt about the love affair we have with capoeira, and the beauty and salvation we find in the camaraderie, the movements and in the sublime repertoire of songs which have circulated from Africa to Brazil and, like a miracle, to our academy in the southwestern corner of the United States.

Music Style Afro-Brazilian Capoeira music

Artist History Elias Fonseca formed Capoeira Quilombo de San Diego in January 1995. Originally from Santos and a former member of the Brazilian National track team, he was a student of Mestre Parada, himself the first formado graduated by the famous angoleiro Mestre Sombra. Currently, Elias teaches in four locations in the San Diego area.

Group Members Elias Fonseca, Marshall Carder, Robert Vacca, Jason Stanyek, Gracy dos Santos, Isela Iniguez Turner, Ana Carder, Nick Fleetfoot, Brian Braet, Beston Barnett, Michael Martin; (coro) Vania Oliveira, Alexandre Fernandes, Pricila Bernardes, Vanessa Christman, Tais Milsap, Panao; (guests) Mark Lamson, Kenneth Bordwell, Patrick O'Keefe

Instruments berimbau, atabaque, pandeiro, agogo, reco-reco; (8-11 also include) bata drum, shakere, conga, and tan-tan

Albums Capoeira Quilombo de San Diego (1999)

Additional Info The self-titled CD contains 60 minutes of traditional capoeira music. A second CD, called Additional Tracks, is included here to showcase some of the more experimental work we did, using other Afro-Brazilian forms such as Maculele and Samba de Roda, as well as folkloric rhythms from Cuba. The lyrics, untranslated from the Portuguese, are contained within the CD, but they can only be accessed by putting it in a computer.

Location San Diego, CA - USA

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