Frederico José De Abreu – Capoeiras: Bahia, 19th Century
There goes the first volume of the collection called Capoeiras: Bahia, 19th century by me. I chose this editorial form - collection - for two reasons: because of the laziness of, at the moment, preparing a text, including all the researched and available material on the subject, in one fell swoop
; for the desire to leave the work open, in order to include in the next volumes new aspects, new documents (if they appear) on the subjects addressed in this first volume; in addition to contributions from other authors.
After all, the season of studies about that time of Bahian capoeira has only just begun.
This first volume includes comments, opinions and analyzes that I prefer to outline the references I collected about Bahian capoeiras in the mentioned period. The book was divided into chapters distributed according to the chronological order of the reference dates of the documents that gave them the reason for the approach. This does not prevent them from being read as independent texts. Neither this nor the other clear and underlying connections that exist between them. They are products of my vagal look and a glimpse of the history of these people. I anticipate a conclusion for the reader: my story is vulgar, nothing is proven. I am addicted to controversies, so many times, faced with the evidence of certainty, I still preferred doubt.
We only knew two sources of Bahian capoeiras in the 19th century: the chronicles of Manuel Querino and those of Antônio Vianna who, in their approaches, reached the last decades of the 19th century. What else?
A few news obtained through the reports of foreigners, taken from the newspapers, reached through oral tradition, and a single engraving by Rugendas - "San Salvador" (under suspicion) - completed the collection of "material" available to study the universe of capoeira in that period fertilized by myths, legends and many suppositions. In favor of the nature of these sources, I added the subtitle: Imaginary and Documentation.
The scarcity of referential sources and documentary evidence was always accused of being a "villain of history", for hindering attempts to penetrate this universe. Attempts were followed by frustrations, withdrawals and discouragement.
For capoeira scholars, the task began to be an arduous one, and given the presumed results, it would not be worth trying. It became "taboo"...
