Comments on: Obrigada Mestre Acordeon (Or: Meeting a Famous Mestre)

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:38:46 +0000

Hey Vicisaran, thanks for letting me know! Have to admit I’m not very well-versed in the vast repertoire of capoeira DVDs and videos out there. XD

By: vicisaran

vicisaran — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:57:31 +0000

Hey Joaninha, I just wanted to mention that your second question that you wanted to ask Mestre Acordeon, “What do you think about all-women rodas, or events? Do you believe they are truly beneficial, or help to perpetuate sexist gender stereotypes in capoeira? Do you think gender equality is a shrinking issue as capoeira spreads in North America and Europe, or if not, what needs to be done to address it?” was heavily adressed in Mestre Acordeon’s DVD “Master of Capoeira: Nestor Capoeira.” http://www.capoeiraarts.com/videos/mastersofcapoeira.htm
You should check it out, as it’s very close a chance that any of us will get to interviewing him

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:30:11 +0000

Hey Shayna, and Angoleiro, thanks for the wise words Just to reassure you, I was pretty shy/intimidated about going up to introduce myself, etc., but you know I’d be one of the last people to help inflate a mestre’s ego by pedestaling/demi-god-worshipping, etc! I agree, Shayna, that it was mostly a matter of timing. Perhaps if he’d been there for more than two days…!

p.s. I do have to say though, in slightly further defense, that Angoleiro, you said everything is very relaxed in terms of mestres’ interactions with students in capoeira, etc. I think that is very group-dependent! This is covering some old ground from a previous Mandingueira post, but in this specific case, even if M. Acordeon is completely down-to-earth himself, he gets assimilated as someone with mestre status in the group he’s visiting, as their guest. So if that group is used to treating/seeing mestres a certain way, they’ve been conditioned to treat/see all guest mestres the same way. For instance, at this workshop, we literally *were* told to treat all the mestres as kings. Not that I didn’t take that with a huge grain of salt anyway, but you see what I mean.

By: angoleiro

angoleiro — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 07:02:44 +0000

I agree with Shayna. When you keep a basic level of respect everything is alright and you can still have a nice chat with em. Capoeira does teach all of us to be very down to earth. That does mean that the mestres are not too high in the sky and that we as students are not expected to admire them like demi-gods. alll very relaxed, and that’s sth I really like

By: Shayna

Shayna — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:16:29 +0000

Oi Joaninha, I’m glad to hear you had this experience!

One thing though… I realize you may be exaggerating on the “starstruck” aspects of the situation… but I’d caution against elevating him to some high unapproachable pedestal, feeling that you’re somehow unworthy of his time.

As Soldado pointed out, M. Acordeon (along w/many other mestres – yes, even the famous/legendary ones) are extremely approachable and welcome questions from students. They love the opportunity to interact and share with those who are eager to learn.

Heck… just speaking from my own experience: M. Cobrinha freely gives out his e-mail address and encourages people to write… M. Valmir was more than happy to answer my many questions about malicia despite the fact that I was extremely new to capoeira angola and to his group… and M. Joao Grande (legend of the angola world) sat and talked with my friend for an hour when all she wanted to do was buy a dobrao from him!

I realize that the timing may not have been right to request an interview in this particular situation… but it’s just something to keep in mind

By: Joaninha

Joaninha — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:58:08 +0000

Hehe, I agree with Angoleiro! That seems to happen a lot though…I went to an author signing the other week and really wanted to ask the author something, but couldn’t bring myself to say anything other than “thank you” once I’d actually reached the table! (Although, the fact she was finishing off an interview while signing probably didn’t help…)

Haha, Xixarro, speaking of attentive…when everyone gathered around M. Acordeon for his “talk”/Q&A, I had a front-row seat…but then I wanted to get my glasses on, so I ran to get them, and by the time I was back there was no more room left and I was relegated to the back rows!!! Couldn’t stop kicking myself over that for the rest of the event ><”

By: xixarro

xixarro — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 13:55:33 +0000

I’d love to meet him once. I don’t have any questions for him, but I would be sooooo attentive when he’d speak. And maybe, I’d go for the ‘me and the mestre’ picture as well

By: angoleiro

angoleiro — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:47:09 +0000

soldado… I think the weather question was great, too!

By: Soldado

Soldado — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 14:58:21 +0000

I have had the opportunity to visit his old school in the Bay area a couple of times while visiting my friend’s capoeira group in Sacramento. He is very approachable. I had several things I wanted to ask him too, but when my friend brought me to meet him I forgot what I was going to ask and kinda stuttered something like “…nice weather huh.”

My question was going to be along the lines of-What makes someone a mestre…how can you quantify that or should we even try……?