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Capoeira songs are an integral part of capoeira, structured with soloist sections and responses from the chorus, which is composed of the other capoeiristas present in the roda. These songs can be categorized into four types based on their content: ladainhas, chulas, corridos, and quadras. Each type of song serves a specific role within the roda, contributing to the rhythm, storytelling, and communication during the game.
Understanding songs in capoeira is a good way to grasp and put into some historical context early Brazilian life and history. If one can identify with the music on a personal level, it goes a long way in adopting the heritage vital in the maintenance of capoeira as a cultural force. The songs of capoeira partly play the role of cultural guide and teacher.
The songs, whether ladainha, corrido, or quadra, can be placed in many categories for comparison. The following list is not exhaustive:
| What | Examples | Song examples |
|---|---|---|
| Folk lessons | ||
| Acknowledging folkway | the corridos Bate Dendê, Marinheiro Sou | |
| Acknowledging Slavery | the corridos Návio Negreiro, a Manteiga Derramou, the interjections iaia and ioio (daughter and son of the slave master respectively) | |
| Acknowledging symbolic aspects of capoeira | vadiação, mandinga/mandingueiro, malandro/malandragem | |
| Acknowledging roots through place | Angola, Aruanda, Bahia, Pelourinho, Maranhão, Recife | |
| Acknowledging Religion/Spirituality/Religious Syncretism | references to Catholic saints, God(s), orixás, Candomblé, Nganga, etc... | |
| Biographical, Autobiographical, Mythological | references to Mestre Bimba, Mestre Pastinha, Mestre Waldemar, Besouro Mangangá, Zumbi | |
| Songs that comment on the game metaphorically | the corridos a Bananeira Caiu, a Onça Morreu | |
| Songs that comment on the game directly | the corridos Devagar, Donalice Não Me Pegue Não | |
| Greeting and Farewell songs (Despedidas) | the corridos Camungerê, Boa Viagem | |
| Songs that welcome women into the roda to play | the corridos Dona Maria do Camboatá, Sai, Sai, Catarina, and the song Quem foi te disse Capoeira é só pra homem | |
| Meta-Capoeira songs, that is, those that directly reference/invoke Capoeira by name |
Many songs can be considered cross categorizational, as well.
Ladainha
The roda commences with the ladainha (litany), a solo often sung by the most senior member present, usually the one playing lead berimbau. These songs may be improvised on the spot, but are most often chosen from a canon of extant ladainhas. The ladainha varies in from as little as two lines, to 20 or more. Topics for this song type include moral lessons, stories, history, mythology, can be topical for a particular occasion as well as pure poetry, and almost always metaphorical. The song is loosely strophic and the melody is pretty much the same throughout the entire ladainha repertoire, with some variations here and there. The ladainha uses quatrain form as a template, with the first line almost always repeated.
| Portuguese | English translation |
|---|---|
|
Iê...ê |
Ieeeee |
An interpretation of this song could be: Nothing comes easy without hard work. The person who sings the ladainha cries out "Ieeeeeeee" (pronounced YaaaaaaaaY) to call to order the attendees of the roda, that the roda is starting. The ladainha ends with "Camará", "Camaradinho" (fits better rhythmically), or conversely, "É hora, hora" (It's the hour). This tagline marks the end of the ladainha and the beginning of the chula, or more properly louvação (praise).
Louvação
The louvação begins the call and response section of the roda. The louvação invokes God, Mestres, capoeira, and gives thanks. This section are also called chulas (Italicized line is the response).
| Portuguese | English translation |
|---|---|
|
Iê, Viva meu Deus |
Long live my God |
The content of the louvação can be improvised as well, so having a good ear is critical to singing the chorus. The louvação, just as the ladainha, is strophic, but there is no variation in the melody from one louvação to another. However while it is most often sung in a major tonality, sometimes it can be heard in minor if the ladainha is also minor. The chorus is sung in unison, though an occasional harmonization, usually a third above, is sometimes used as a punctuation by one of the singers.
The two players/jogadores having sat at the pé-de-berimbau, or foot of the berimbau, during the ladainha, begin the game at the start of the corridos.
Corrido
The corridos are overlapping call and response typical of African singing, and influenced by, and borrowing from the Sambas de Roda of Bahia. Unlike the Mexican Corrido which is a form of folk ballad, the Bahian corrido is a short song with a usually static response. The chorus is often indicated by being used as the first line in the song:
| Portuguese | English translation |
|---|---|
|
Ai, ai, Aidê |
Ai, ai, Aidê (a girl's name) |
The corrido communicates with the action in the roda (though without the level of interaction in a traditional samba de roda) to inspire the players, to comment directly on the action, invokes, praises, warns, tells stories, and teaches moral values. There is a corrido for welcoming the roda, for closing the roda, asking for the players to play less aggressively, more aggressively, to not grab the other person, and the list continues. Corridos can also be challenges (desafios). The lead will sing a corrido then after some time sing one very similar, requiring the chorus (everyone else save the two playing in the roda) to be paying close attention to sing the correct response or two singers can switch corridos on a certain subject. This use of the corrido in a roda is more rare, requiring a bit more expertise on the part of the singers than normal. The desafio/challenge can be used with ladainhas as well. The corridos have the broadest melodic variation from one to the next, though many corridos share the same melodies. Thus a vast repertoire of corridos can be learned and improvisation within corridos becomes a less daunting prospect. Like the louvação, the corrido response is sung in unison, and like the louvação an occasional harmonization, usually a third above, is used as a punction by one of the singers.
Quadra
An innovation of Mestre Bimba, quadras take the place of the ladainha in some Regional and Contemporânea capoeira schools. They are four, eight, twelve (...) verse songs sung solo followed by the louvação. The main difference between the ladainha and quadra is that the quadra, like the corrido, doesn't have a standard melodic model and exhibits a greater variety melody. Quadras also exist as a special type of corrido with four line solo verses followed by the choral response, such as the following:
Capenga ontem teve aqui
Capenga ontem teve aqui
Deu dois mil réis a papai
Três mil réis a mamãe
Café e açúcar a vovó
Deu dois vintém a mim
Sim senhor, meu camará
Quando eu entrar, você entra
Quando eu sair, você sai
Passar bem, passar mal
Mas tudo no mundo é passar
Ha ha ha
Água de beber
Chula
The term chula is often given to the call and response louvação immediately following the ladainha. By comparison, traditionally in Bahia the chula is the free form song text of the Samba de Roda sung between the dances (as in the samba parada) and defines the structures of the various other "styles" of samba de roda, while the samba corrido lasts as long as the singer feels like singing it before moving on to another. The chula is a poetic form based on the quadra (quatrain) form (which may have influenced Mestre Bimba's replacement of ladainhas with quadras) with its roots in Iberia. The word chula comes from the word chulo meaning "vulgar", common, rustic (similarly the Spanish word chulo/chulito is used for peasant Indians in the Americas), being often pastoral and sentimental.
How the term chula came to refer to the louvação isn't currently known. But its similarity to the ladainha and the use of corrido songs from the samba de roda tradition probably played a large role.