Learn Capoeira Lyrics

Aside from the movements, capoeira lyrics are for me the most challenging thing to learn.

I'm a native English speaker so I was really frustrated the first time I tried to learn the lyrics to capoeira songs being sung in the roda.

I didn't know where to start!

Eventually I learned some simple tricks to make the process of learning capoeira song lyrics a lot easier. Below is the list I use constantly...

Tips for Learning

While it can be difficult to learn a lot of these capoeira lyrics, these are some personal tips I use to pick them up ASAP!

• Pay Attention in Roda – The roda is where I get introduced to most new capoeira songs. The key is to pay attention while in the roda. Your first instinct may be to watch the game, but if you hear a new capoeira song, make it a point to focus on the bateria and listen to the song.
• Word by word – Every time I'm learning a new song, I know that I'll be mumbling the wrong words for a long time until I get it.

  That's okay!

  The key is to fix what you're saying word by word. When the song repeats, listen to the next word you don't know and correct it. Eventually, you'll have the whole song right, word for word.

• Listen to capoeira music – Capoeira music is the next best thing when you don't have a roda to get exposed to new songs. Simply find a song with lyrics you want to learn and listen to it over and over, practicing along.

  This is a great way to learn since you can keep repeating the song until you get the lyrics.

• Practice at home – Once you get comfortable with a song, the most important thing to do is practice it!

  I can't tell you how many times I've been in the shower singing new capoeira lyrics to a song I just learned...

  When you practice, the song becomes another one under your belt that you can use in a roda or when playing the instruments.

These tips are useful when learning songs in class or from music, but you may not always have these opportunities. What to do in those situations?

Lyric Resources

You don't always need to be in class to learn new songs. The key to this is using other resources in learning new songs or improving on the ones you know. Below are a couple of solid resources that I recently discovered...

• Capoeira Song Compendium – This is an amazing document for learning and improving your capoeira song lyrics. It includes over 100 songs, in Portuguese and English. Additionally it includes pronunciations and other useful capoeira information in the appendix. Definitely check it out!
• Capoeira Songs – This document doesn't have as many extras as the first, but it has a lot of great songs in it. Some of these songs aren't included in the first document. It also includes bolded text to represent the chorus of the songs.

Learning lyrics to capoeira songs may not seem that important, especially compared to the movements. However, learning the songs adds a deeper dimension to the experience and is definitely worth the effort!

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