Capoeira is played in a roda, or circle, and the players sing songs and play instruments to animate the roda. The songs typically either tell a story, or exhort the players to play harder or take some action in the roda. There are also songs celebrating aspects of the history of capoeira. All of the songs are in Portuguese.
All students of Capoeira Barro Vermelho are given the opportunity to learn the songs and eventually play the instruments (pandeiro, berimbau and atabaque). Weekly music classes are provided for this purpose.
Below you will find the lyrics to some of the songs that we sing in class. Make sure to practice so you have it down (click on the name of the song for link to the music).
* A note about written capoeira lyrics: Capoeira and the music has been passed down orally for generations; consequently in class you may hear different lyrics than the ones noted below for a particular song.
