Is Capoeira Angola Traditional Capoeira?

When people compare the various style of capoeira, the tendency and convention is to describe Capoeira Angola as traditional and Capoeira Regional as modern. As a result, a lot of people take the leap in logic to thus describe Angola as being the "truer form". In a way, I think that this is misleading. A more realistic assessment is to call Capoeira Angola more traditional and Capoeira Regional more modern. Of course, even this is a bit ridiculous.

Mestre Bimba invented Regional because the capoeira he saw on the streets—and originally practiced—he said was more akin to a folkloric dance than a battle-ready martial art. Bimba then decided to adapt the art, adding more martial elements back into Capoeira Angola, thus creating Capoeira Regional.

Around the time that Mestre Bimba was developing Capoeira Regional, Mestre Pastinha was already a famous mestre. Capoeira Angola predates Mestre Pastinha, so no one credits Pastinha with having created the art. Rather, Pastinha's role in its development was the popularization of Angola. However, Angola is, without a doubt, a creation or a revision of the art after colonial times when Capoeira was created.

While there's no confusion that Regional is not "traditional" capoeira—although one might argue that it is the traditional in the sense that Bimba taught—there appears to be misconception on what it means to describe Angola as "traditional." In no way is Capoeira Angola "true" capoeira. Just like Regional, Angola is a permutation of the original form which we will never have again.

That being said, when Bimba re-introduced martial elements to the art in the 1930s, in his mind, he was saving capoeira from devolving into a dance, preserving it as a martial art which was capoeira's truest purpose. Therefore, one could easily make the argument that Regional is more traditional in that, in comparison to Angola, it is more martial as original capoeira was.

Capoeira Angola is not the original capoeira practiced by Afro-Brazilian slaves and other marginalized peoples during colonial times; this is important to identify. It, just like Regional, is modern adaptations. In fact, people that call themselves Angoleiros, are what Mestre Acordeon describes as being "Contemporary Angoleiros".

All styles of today's capoeira are modern. Angolieros focus on preserving the traditions of the version of capoeira popularized by Pastinha. Still, there are those who practice Regional exactly as Bimba did, who preserve the traditions of that version of capoeira. At the same time, some who pratice Contemporânea focus on developing the art and advancing it, trying to bridge traditions of the past with Bimba's vision of modernization and advancement. Which is more traditional?

In my opinion, any group that uses capoeira as an instrument for social change is as close to traditional as any capoeira can get, regardless of race, color, grender, creed, or any other marginalizing characteristics of the capoeiristas or those that they affect.

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