Last weekend was a flurry of activity as Bantus Malaysia was invited to participate in the infamous yet famously publicized Fête De La Musique. And so it was that on a sunny Saturday afternoon, a troop of Bantus Capoeiristas appeared miraculously at the waterfall in 1 Utama, all geared up and ready to perform. They wowed the crowd with their stunning and dashing display of moves—the writer was conspicuously absent as he was bound by ‘duty’ elsewhere. However from interviews with other Bantus capoeiristas and fans alike, it was said that the Saturday show proved to be a crowd pleaser. And everything was alright.

A small troop of Bantus capoeiristas grouped together in front of Lot 10 and played capoeira!

Saturday aside, Bantus was due to perform at two more shows in the heart of Kuala Lumpur…and so it was that on a sunny Sunday afternoon (somehow shows happened to be on sunny days), a small troop of Bantus capoeiristas grouped together in front of Lot 10 and played capoeira! We were joined by KK from the Kuantan group, and by Norazman and his crew from CAAOM. What followed was an intense session of capoeira which proved to be rather good despite the absence of our instructor, Rafael.

The roda lasted long enough for the hungry crowd to lap up every ounce of axé we had to offer. After which, everyone dispersed for a quick snack before our next performance later on in the day. Some had to leave to spend time with their fathers, it being father’s day and all. A few people, namely Quek and Andrew decided to hang back and play some chill-out angola music while waiting for time to pass. They were joined by a few others as they came trickling back to the entrance of Lot 10.

As more capoeiristas appeared, some began to play a little angola.

Soon, a sizeable crowd had gathered to witness this bold display of music in a public vicinity. As more capoeiristas appeared, some began to play a little angola. Meanwhile all this activity was attracting quite a crowd, and with the arrival of Rafael, we decided to give them a quick demonstration before moving on to our main and final performance of the day.

The fifteen-minute roda seemed to last longer as everyone played, building up a massive amount of axé which would soon explode upon the steps of Tang’s. No doubt everyone was happy and spirits were high as we made ready to adjourn to our final location.

By the time we set things up, a sizeable crowd had gathered to see what the commotion was about.

There was initially some confusion about where we were supposed to perform, so in true Bantus fashion, we unanimously decided to perform on the doorsteps of Tang’s in front of BB plaza. By the time we set things up, a sizeable crowd had gathered to see what the commotion was about. We started with some music, followed by the singing and the games.

What followed can only be described as a wonderful display of axé as everyone played their hearts out. As the games progressed, the axé was slowly building up, and the energy was intense! The crowd was a good one, with a lot of people adding to the fun by clapping along to the music and the beat.

Everybody held their breath for a split second and the thought finally registered in their heads. The roda was over!

As the roda approached its climax, the music intensified, and the games were fast and powerful! And then, BOOOM! Everything stopped! Silence. Peace. Relief. Everybody held their breath for a split second and the thought finally registered in their heads. The roda was over!

And the axé exploded and spilled out to every corner of the street as the crowd dispersed and the capoeiristas basked in the contented feeling of achievement that only a good roda can offer. Everyone was tired, but a hell lot happier as they went about their separate ways, knowing that soon, very soon in fact, (the next day actually) they would meet again to share the energy that they had just experienced.

» More photos by Kenneth

The month has passed at break-neck speed for Bantus. Many, many heartfelt thanks once again to all who set aside some time to help bring the new academia to its current usable state. It looks fabulous! You’ve been a huge blessing to the group.

Monday 8pm, 19th June 2005—The new academia was alive with chatter amongst students old and new, their parents and casual observers. The air was moving thanks to the many ceiling and exhaust fans which have been installed—most of us who train regularly know how much of a luxury this is! Eventually Rafael called us to sit and form a roda. He and Seda spoke briefly, after which they wasted no time in getting the bataria started.

The roda was spirited, perhaps even more so because we were playing in our new ‘home’. For the seniors it could have been the sense of realising something which started off as a dream—to see capoeira take firm root here in Malaysia and expand at its own pace. Memories of our first opening roda last year still remain fresh in our minds.

After the roda concluded, we all made an attempt at dancing samba, guided by Lillian and Stella. Credit to all the guys who braved through the entire barrage of lower body action! The two Brazilian ladies were very much in their element with all the pelvic thrusts and bewitching circular movements, while the rest of us wondered how we could dislocate our hips from spines to do the same.

The laughter from the samba demonstration carried over to the makan and mingle session after that. Thanks to everyone who lent their axé to the opening of our new academia!

Thanks goes out to Kenneth for the pictures. See more here.

At 8:15pm on Thursday nights, a dedicated few who are part of the Bantus performance group will focus on learning floreios, refining movements and solos. We had our first session this week.

I can’t remember the last time my thighs ached this much! I’m practically waddling… Rafael had us pick 2 moves which we would like to work on that night and we spent half an hour on each. A lot of us were re-discovering muscle groups yet again, and there was a lot of falling over, tumbling off balance and rubbing sore wrists/ankles/sides/heads as we kept repeating our 2 moves of choice. However, all that focused training was tremendously rewarding, as most of us managed to really improve our techniques within that 1 hour.

There’s lots of hard work ahead for us, but it ‘s going to be a whole lot of fun and satisfaction!

Talk to Rafael, Quek or Tartaruga to find out how you can be part of the Bantus performance group.

You may have noticed that our class schedule has been adjusted, now that we have our new space. Beginners’ classes will run at the old academia (let’s call it the Beginner’s Centre for the time being) from Monday to Friday every week. Intermediate and advanced students will train on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the (new) main academia. All are welcome to join the music class on Tuesdays, which will also be held in the new premises. All classes begin at 8:15pm.

Public rodas will be on Saturday nights at 9:30pm as per usual and we will rotate the venues between Bangsar, Desa Hartamas and BB Plaza.

Kenneth Hiew, a photographer who’s been spending some time taking photos of us has posted his thoughts on his blog, check it out:

I had only vague notions of what it was all about, but upon seeing the do (called a roda), and doing research and getting more into the topic, I saw that there was much depth in the stories to be told about the culture, anthropological aspects, ethnography, etc.

» Read the rest of his post

Bantus Capoeira’s video archives:

• Capoeira Festival 2004 (16.6MB)
• Hotlink Party 2004 @ Zouk KL (10.3MB)
• 100 Plus Aqtiv Commercial (1.3MB)
• Panasonic AC Robot Air Cond Commercial (1.9MB)

You may need to install the latest Macromedia Flash Player to view our videos. Get it here.

Video of Rafael’s second performance with Bantus in Malaysia for promoting Hotlink at a party in Zouk KL.

Temporarily unavailable.

I just want to take this chance to thank every single one of you guys and gals (especially the gals) who took a moment out of your busy schedules to help us out with the academy over the past month. We at Bantus really appreciate all the blood sweat and tears that have gone into prepping our new home.

See you all tonight for the potluck! Bring a small portion of drinks, food or BYOB.

There will be a small samba class for those of your who wish to try it out followed by a roda (of course!) and food.

Starts at 8pm at the new academy, 21c and 23c, SS22/23 (corner of the President building down the road from our old academy).

It’s Fête de la Musique time again! This year, we’ll be participating in two venues, 1 Utama and in town. The festivities begin this Saturday, 18th of June at 1 Utama’s new wing (at the waterfalled, ‘Rainforest’ area). We’ll be playing ad-hoc rodas from 4pm onwards. Music class is cancelled for this Saturday, so everybody can come for capoeira at 1 Utama!

On Sunday, we’ll have 2 scheduled performances in Kuala Lumpur, 2:40pm at Lot 10 and 5:25pm at BB Plaza. Please be there at least 30 minutes before our scheduled times. Beyond these scheduled events, we’ll probably have spontaneous performances of music, maculele and samba on the streets. See you there this weekend!

Related links:

• Fête de la Musique 2005
• Fête de la Musique 2004

Here’s the promised recording of our session for Dragon Red as an mp3 file. It’s a medley of the few songs we sing in our rodas, so it’ll make a good reference for beginners who want to learn the songs. Enjoy:

Bantus Medley for Dragon Red (5.1MB MP3)

You can download more of our music from here.