Index of Laura Boulton Capoeira Recordings

Pol Briand – polbrian@mandinga.fr

Revised: April 25, 2006.

General information

Archive of Traditional Musica at Indiana University information:

Capoeira (Salvador, Bahia) performed by Academia de Angola

Performers and location

The tapes were recorded at

ACADEMIA DE CAPOEIRA ANGOLA de mestre Pastinha

Ladeira do Pelourinho, 19, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

Pastinha's was a well-known uptown group, owing part of its fame to the support of writer Jorge Amado and journalist, politician and writer Wilson Lins (director of the local morning daily O Imparcial) as well as that of the city council's tourism Office. The capoeira school was on the first floor of a city-owned building. In 1974, the city officials decided to empty it for urgent repairs. The Academia, which was at that time less than prosperous, was not relocated and closed forever.

There are at least two lead singers, who may be both other than the master of the group, Vicente Ferreira Pastinha (Salvador, 1889 – idem, 1981).

Date(s)

There are two reels of original recordings, sounding very much alike. A female English-American voice sounds in EC 11362 #2, presumably Laura Boulton's, so it seems safe to think that the recording dates were during her stay in Bahia, between November and December 1960.

Technique

Microphone
Unknown. Conjecturally, an omnidirectional device.
Recorder
Unknown.
Media
Analog 1/4" tape 7.1/2 ips (19cm/s) mono full width track. Two 7" (18cm) reels, total recorded 48mn or 1800ft (550m).

Contents

Durations exclude ATM announcements. Times in descriptions are from beginning of track, announcement included.

See Glossary for a precise definition of terms and description of instruments.

Color code in the table:
copy of other part of the collection, tests, false starts
copy of commercial disc or recording
complete capoeira sequence with chula, canto de entrada, one or more corridos, ending with shouted Iê.

Shelf no. item Duration Description
EC 11320 5 3:48 Two items.
EC 11320 5A 1:40 copy of end of EC 11361 #3
EC 11320 5B 1:32 copy of beginning of EC 11361 #4
EC 11360 1 1:40 copy of end of EC 11361 #3
EC 11360 2 1:33 copy of beginning of EC 11361 #4
EC 11360 3 3:30 copy of a commercial record (crackles) of carnival music (Samba), not capoeira music, neither capoeira theme.
EC 11361 1 3:28 0:29 Instrumental. 2 berimbaus with caxixí; pandeiros; agogo; atabaque, rêco-rêco; confuse voices, noises like moving furniture. Microphone moving from an instrument to another, not very close. 3:41 man shouts Iê!, music ends. 3:57 End.
EC 11361 2 0:44 0:00 Instrumental. 1 berimbau playing without rythm then a streak of samba-de-roda stopping when an atabaque comes in; voices.
EC 11361 3 6:41 0:00 Instrumental (as in item 1); 0:30 starts again; 0:32 Man sings ladainha Bahia minha Bahia / Capital do Salvador … in hommage to the leader of the group mestre Pastinha; man sings with male group canto de entrada; 2:20 corrido bom vaqueiro [5:45 baby wailing in the background]; 6:00 same music with chorus Dendê, Dendê; fast fade out6:41.
EC 11361 4 3:18 Instruments as in item 1, man sings with male group. 0:00 fade into end of canto de entrada; 0:15 corrido Parané é Parané [0:31 motor sounding loud in the background]; 0:42 instrumental, background sounds like someone is moving furniture, voices ; 1:33 corrido Eu também sou ligeiro – Paraná; 2:33 corrido Quebra jereba; 3:07 corrido Olha, olhe aí; 3:18 end.
EC 11362 1 5:32 Instruments as in EC 11362 #1, man sings with men and children group. 0:07 cut into corrido Quem nunca viu venha ver [motor sounds in background, microphone moves close to singer's mouth] ; 4:10 corrido Essa cobra me morde – Ô senhor São Bento [microphone moves away]; 5:18 corrido Dá, Dá, Dá no homem; 5:39 end.
EC 11362 2 4:56 Two items.
A 1:34 Samples of individual instruments; distant female american voice.
  1. 0:15 Man says Rêco-rêco, instrument sound pattern, agogo stikes;
  2. 0:33 brief berimbau sound; agogo pattern;
  3. 0:47 sharp berimbau playing patterns;
  4. 1:01 louder and lower berimbau with caxixí, other pattern;
  5. 1:16 low pandeiro pattern;
  6. 1:22 sharper pandeiro, less cymbalets, slightly different pattern;
  7. 1:29 berimbau n.o 2 sounds; 1:34 end.
B 3:22 Microphone close to lead singer's mouth. 1:34 The above intruments play, man sings chula Era eu mais o meu mano; 2:24 man with male group sing canto de entrada; 3:00 corrido Abalou cajueira, abalou [microphone somewhat further from lead singer's mouth]; 4:19 Instrumental; 4:51 fade out; 4:56 end.
EC 11362 3 1:18 0:02 Instrumental, same as in item 2. 0:08 Man sings corrido Nhem, nhem, nhem, o menino chorou; 0:29 Instrumental [muffled, microphones focuses on instruments in sequence] 1 berimbau, 2 pandeiros, agogo; 1:20 fast fade out.
EC 11362 4 5:41 Same instruments as in item 2. 0:00 Man sings ladainha Menino quem foi seu mestre [not the most common version]; 0:57 Man and male group sing canto de entrada [mention of Vicente Pastinha]; 1:52, corrido Ai, ai, Aidé; 2:45, corrido Tamandua, que matou?; 1:52, corrido Empurre, empurre e balançou; 5:33 Man shouts Iê and music stops; 5:41 end.
EC 11362 5 3:36 Same instruments as in item 2. 0:00 Man sings chula É o pão e a manteiga; 0:25 Man and men (and a child) group sing canto de entrada; 2:09, corrido Ê ê ê tum tum tum / Olhe a pisada de Lampião; 3:31 fade out .3:36 end.
EC 11362 6 0:28 0:00 Instrumental, low-pitched berimbau without caxixí, pandeiro, 1 agogo; 0:26 fade out.
EC 11362 7 1:27 Instrumental, 2 or 3 berimbaus pandeiro, 1 agogo; 1:27 cut.
EC 11362 8 3:08 two items
A 0:08 False start. Voices, berimbau sound.
B 3:00 cuts into song. Man and male group (with a child) sing canto de entrada; 0:57, corrido: Bom vaqueiro; 3:07 fast fade out.)
Total time   47:57 original recording time (ATM announcements and duplicates excluded)

 

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