Saturday, November 18, 2006
Well my trip is going to end soon. Scott flew to Rio on Thursday and goes back to the states on Sun eve. I'm leaving to Rio on Monday and flying to the states on Tuesday. I'll arrive in Boulder about midday Wednesday.
Last nite after the roda at N'Zinga we were hanging out at a bar playing music and singing like we often do and I really started to feel sad that I was leaving Bahia, cuz I live for moments such as these. However moments after I had this realization this bloke pulled up in his car and started blasting some loud, obnoxious pop music. I really wanted to go over and tell to fuck off. But the rest of the folks from the group just rolled with the punches and started dancing and playing around to the terrible music.
That kind of sums up my experience here in Bahia.
On the one hand I had many incredible opportunities to learn and meet wonderful people.
On the other hand things like the filth and bad music conspired to put me in a bad mood.
The Baianos had an admirable sense of flexibility and resilience, you can see it in instances like my story, you can see it in the way the play Capoeira, always moving and flowing with ebb and flow of the game.
Last nite after the roda at N'Zinga we were hanging out at a bar playing music and singing like we often do and I really started to feel sad that I was leaving Bahia, cuz I live for moments such as these. However moments after I had this realization this bloke pulled up in his car and started blasting some loud, obnoxious pop music. I really wanted to go over and tell to fuck off. But the rest of the folks from the group just rolled with the punches and started dancing and playing around to the terrible music.
That kind of sums up my experience here in Bahia.
On the one hand I had many incredible opportunities to learn and meet wonderful people.
On the other hand things like the filth and bad music conspired to put me in a bad mood.
The Baianos had an admirable sense of flexibility and resilience, you can see it in instances like my story, you can see it in the way the play Capoeira, always moving and flowing with ebb and flow of the game.
Saturday, November 04, 2006
It's been a busy week with helping Scott do research. We interviewed several people and now we're transcribing and translating the material. We've been interviewing people who were involved with various Capoeira Angola groups doing grass root type of education programs for low income communities. We interviewed two capoeira mestres and three folks who had participated in the programs. Very eye opening stuff!
Perhaps some of you have spent time in Latin America and are familiar with the incongruous sight of million dollar hotels towering above shanty towns. A strange sight in the USA, but very common here in Brasil. Social welfare programs here in Brasil are criminally underfunded and often funded by people who aren't the government agencies. Illiteracy rates in Brazil have improved since the 1970's but are still fairly high in rural areas and low income communities in the cities.
That's where Capoeira groups and other grass root organizations come in to the picture. They provide cultural activities, educational assistance, meals and networking opportunities in these neighborhoods. Many of the children that participate are from from single parent families, where mom has to work most of the day for low wages. Crime in these areas is often a common occurrence. It's very common that people resort to selling drugs as a way of earning money.
Perhaps some of you have spent time in Latin America and are familiar with the incongruous sight of million dollar hotels towering above shanty towns. A strange sight in the USA, but very common here in Brasil. Social welfare programs here in Brasil are criminally underfunded and often funded by people who aren't the government agencies. Illiteracy rates in Brazil have improved since the 1970's but are still fairly high in rural areas and low income communities in the cities.
That's where Capoeira groups and other grass root organizations come in to the picture. They provide cultural activities, educational assistance, meals and networking opportunities in these neighborhoods. Many of the children that participate are from from single parent families, where mom has to work most of the day for low wages. Crime in these areas is often a common occurrence. It's very common that people resort to selling drugs as a way of earning money.
