'In Rio, Almost No One Knows How to Play the Berimbau'

WHY THIS ARTICLE

The belief in Bahian supremacy is treated as timeless wisdom. The thesis shows it as the internalised norm of an era, voiced even by a teacher who had practised only four years and knew nothing of the carioca past.

An internalised norm

In the early 1960s, the young André Luis Lacé Lopes defended the idea, voiced by the two 'papas' Mestre Bimba and another, that carioca capoeira — or that of any place that is not Bahia — was weak. In this posture, the thesis argues, one must see nothing but the expression of the common thought of the time and the internalisation of the norm by the whole body of practitioners.

A defender who did not know the past

Lacé Lopes, then a student of administration, though he taught capoeira, had practised it for only four years. He had plunged into this unknown universe with passion and devotion — but knew nothing of the glorious past of his predecessors, doubtless like his own teacher: nothing of Cyriaco and the carioca champions.

Why it matters

The 'weakness' of carioca capoeira was not a finding but a received belief, repeated by those who had forgotten the carioca past. The hierarchy of the forms was an era's prejudice, internalised as fact.

SOURCES

La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), thèse de doctorat, Université des Antilles, 2020 (Part III: Lacé Lopes and the belief in Bahian supremacy, early 1960s)

IN THE CORPUS

→ How Bahia and Capoeira Became the Same Word

→ The Bahian Who Wanted to Test Himself Against Carioca Capoeira

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

MALO, Olivier. 'In Rio, Almost No One Knows How to Play the Berimbau'. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 108. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/in-rio-almost-no-one-knows-how-to-play-the-berimbau. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.