Xango Capoeira Group was founded by Mestre Luizinho Barravento in Australia 2011. The group, however, have been operating in Australia since 1997 under the name Zambiacongo which was founded by Luizinho's father, Mestre Geni in Salvador - Bahia, Brazil. In Brisbane the group is led by Contra-Mestre Caracol (Claudio Climaco) who established the Brisbane Capoeira School in 1999. Xango Capoeira's main objective it to Research, Divulge and preserve the Afro-Brazilian Culture. Promoting individual and community values based on Respect, Co-operation and Freedom. Using Capoeira as social integration tool, abolishing violence, discrimination and pre-conception, making friends and respecting all. Xango Capoeira also runs regular classes and workshops at various schools and universities including the University of Queensland (Brisbane). Xango Group's Lineage and Phylosophy
Our group has its roots from two different schools in Capoeira: Mestre Canjiquinha (Capoeira Angola) and Mestre Bimba (Capoeira regional), both of which were the teachers of Master Geni, who passed on his teachings to Master Luizinho Barravento to lead his group today. Master Geni is a renowend Capoeirista who began Capoeira in the late 50’s, becoming a master of Capoeira Angola through Master Canjiquinha,(1925 - 1994) one of the major Angola Masters of his generation. Master Canjiquinha is known for being a visionary in Capoeira “Capoeira doesn’t have a color, race or religion, it doesn’t wave one flag only, it belongs to the people and one day will be all over the world”. He was a skillful Berimbau player and Capoeirista. Many of his students went on to become well known and respected masters, including Paulo dos Anjos, Lua Rasta, Brasilia amongst many others. Master Canjiquinha also had a folkloric show group which performed Capoeira as well as Maculele,Samba de Roda and other traditional Afro-Brazilian dances. Mestre Canjiquinha had a unique style of Capoeira Angola, and his students followed the philosophy that “The Berimbau is the ultimate master, you play according to the its ‘toques” (tunes). Our group Xango adopts this phylosophy which is to understand the fundaments of each toque regardless of style Angola or Regional, and be able to play Capoeira according to what the Berimbau says. One day Mestre Canjiquinha told Mestre Geni “I have taught you as much as you can learn in here, you now have to go to the street rodas and experience Caooeira”. At that time the street rodas was a tough place where you would only enter if you could ’hold your own’. Master Geni went on to be one of the few white people to enter this tight circle of Capoeiristas, earning their respect for his skills as a fighter and to this day all over Bahia and Brazil his name is well regarded as a living legend who experienced a unique period in Capoeira history. In the late 60’s, Master Geni went on to train with Master Bimba “I heard a lot about Master Bimba and Capoeira Regional and wanted to see what it was like,”. At that time Master Bimba didn’t accept students from other teachers but through a friendship with a Bimba student called Tarzan, Master Geni went into Master Bimba’s academy as a ‘beginner’ student of Tarzan. Master Geni went on to graduate in Master Bimba’s school and eventually started teaching his own classes, forming his own group. Master Luizinho grew up amongst the Capoeira rodas and ‘bate papos” (get togethers) with some of the greatest legend Capoeiristas, friends of Mestre Beni. From an early age he started training Capoeira, together with his brothers, Daniel Batuquege and Zeza Elastico. Mester Luizinho’s background in the traditional Capoeira from Bahia mixed with the ‘contemporary’ adaptations of Capoeira over the years make up the Capoeira that our group plays today, drawing from the roots of street Capoeira, Canjiquinha’s Angola, Master Bimba’s Regional. Capoeira in Queensland
Master Bimba moved from Salvador to Goiania to implement Capoeira Regional in the centre of the country. He already had a group of students in this town, trained by one of his instructors, Mestre Oswaldo. After Bimba’s death in 1974, his students kept teaching and spreading the Regional style in the state of Goias. One of these students, Tarcisio “Curacao”, moved to Australia in 1989 and despite
being retired from a knee injury, began teaching a small group of students in Brisbane, being the first one to start Capoeira in QLD. After a few years he met Mestre Luizinho and saw in him someone who could take on the group in Brisbane and carry on with his work. Mestre Coracao’s son, Claudio “Caracol”, trained with him as a child and with group Candeias in his early teens before moving to
Australia a couple of years later and joining Mestre Luizinho’s group, looking after the classes in Brisbane, expanding the group with a new school and taking Capoeira to universities, schools and gyms around south east Queensland. Since then, both Mestre Luizinho and Contra-Mestre Caracol have been travelling annually all over Australia, Brazil, Europe and Asia, teaching, learning and networking with other Masters and groups, immersing themselves and their students into the culture and lifestyle of capoeira.
