Apple Daily Newspaper Article 2006 – 香港巴西戰舞 GCBHK Capoeira Hong Kong

Since 2005

Apple Daily - 2006

The Article That Paved the Path for Capoeira in Greater China

Apple Daily - 16 February 2006.

GCBHK Capoeira Hong Kong was featured in a full-page interview in early 2006. This interview was a milestone for Capoeira, not only in Hong Kong, but also in Greater China, for two major reasons.

Capoeira 巴西戰舞

It was from this publication that the modern-day terminology for Capoeira in the Chinese language came to be. The author plastered in large Chinese characters down the side of the article “巴西戰舞”, meaning Brazil war dance.

It struck Mestre Chumbinho that this interpretation of Capoeira in Chinese would help brand the sport more clearly for this new market. Chinese people would be able to understand some of the fundamental elements of the art-form just from the name alone. And so, from that day forward, Capoeira was to be known throughout Greater China as 巴西戰舞.

Prior to this, some online forums referred to Capoeira in the phonetic form of 卡波耶拉舞 (recently shortened to 卡波耶拉). However, this never sat well with Mestre Chumbinho as there were deviations in the pronunciation when switching from the Cantonese dialect native to Hong Kong, and other dialects of Mandarin around Mainland China and Taiwan. Additionally, the term has no representation of the art-form itself and left people hearing this term for the first time bewildered as to what it was referring to.

For Mestre Chumbinho, the concept of using 巴西戰舞 went much deeper. At that time, Capoeira was a very new thing for China, so framing was key when the time came to procure venues for training and pursue avenues of promotion. Arts festivals did not want combat sports demonstrations, and martial arts seminars did not want dancers. Sporting facilities did not allow musical ensembles, and rehearsal rooms rejected martial artists.

This combination of such contradictory characters allowed for a significantly vaster range of framing, and therefore a more versatile approach to gaining access to a wider range of facilities, promotion and participation. When specifying martial arts, “戰” supports the meaning of a combat sport. When emphasising “舞” it gave the impression of an art-form. And by prefixing these with “巴西”, the whole thing would be classified as a cultural activity or ritual. By using this method of emphasising the appropriate notion with each interaction, Mestre Chumbinho was able to take Capoeira further and wider than would have been possible if it had been regarded as a martial art alone.

The Birth of the Street Roda

The other reason this article marked a milestone in Capoeira history is because it was the first time an organised Roda of Capoeira was played on the streets in Hong Kong, or anywhere in China. Previously, there may have been some gatherings in parks or hidden-away places out of public view, but never a fully public, full uniform, middle-of-the-street Roda.

Situated right on Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok – the busiest street in Hong Kong, at 10pm on a Friday night – the busiest night of the week. More than a dozen participants, including locals and foreigners, emerged fully clad in their Capoeira uniforms. Some foreigners had played Capoeira before and were no strangers to the “Street Roda”. However, many locals took a significant amount of convincing to come out and play in the middle of the street.

With the newspaper photographer and a Brazilian model they brought along waiting for us in the street, a few compromises were made to help the locals feel less uneasy about participating in this event. It was agreed that we would only use the Berimbau and one Pandeiro in an attempt to attract less attention and be more incognito.

However, as you can see from the photo, there was a sea of thousands of onlookers. The busy street full of late-night shoppers came to a standstill as they watched the members of GCBHK Capoeira Hong Kong clap, sing, Ginga and Queixada. After 30 mins of playing games and posing for photos, a seed had been planted deep inside the core of the players of GCBHK. A new yearning to play Capoeira, out in the open, in the middle of the street, in Mong Kok, was manifested. And the tradition of the Mong Kok Street Roda was born.

As a result of this one newspaper article, the future of Capoeira in Hong Kong, and Greater China at large shifted course. The Street Roda became an event not to be missed, and 巴西戰舞 would find its way into the Chinese vocabulary and start to become a popular art-form practised in China.