It’s common to say that capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that incorporates elements of martial arts, music, dance, and acrobatics. Capoeiristas know it’s much more than that. And if you haven’t tried capoeira yourself, maybe you’ve seen it being performed, where you surely noticed that it’s always accompanied by live music—instruments, voices, and clapping; just one of the many ways in which capoeira sets itself apart in a world full of martial arts.

Capoeira music is unlike any other genre in the world. The physical game is tightly-coupled to instrumentation and singing, to the extent that one cannot exist without the other. With the advent of recorded music in the 20th century, and proliferation of digital music in the 21st century, capoeiristas and the musically curious have increasingly been able to listen to capoeira music outside of class or a roda—whether for solo training, musical practice, or simple enjoyment. Some teachers and mestres may even use recorded music in class as a way of focusing on the physical elements without needing to devote energy and attention to maintaining the bateria.

The modern capoeirista is a connected one. Our smartphones and other devices allow us to easily consume all kinds of media almost as quickly as we can type out our search (or speak it to a digital assistant). So it’s inevitable that capoeiristas would ask for on-demand digital music, and the capoeira world is beginning to answer the call.

Dundak

Dundak is simply the best option today for digital capoeira music. It was founded by capoeiristas, exclusively for capoeira, and it’s the easiest way to download music while supporting the mestres and other artists who have created the recordings we enjoy every day.

Prior to Dundak, eager capoeiristas would seek out mp3’s being shared for free online. With no other digital option available, and CD’s hard to come by, this was the simplest way to get capoeira music into your home, your car, or onto your iPod. Ultimately, aside from the recognition gained by some truly great recordings, this method of acquiring music did essentially nothing to support the capoeira community.

Thankfully, we now have a better option—one we can feel good about. Dundak has a beautiful and simple interface, is competitively priced (compared to other digital music services), makes purchasing easy, and has a great subscription mobile app, too. And you can be sure they have all of the classics every capoeirista must own!

Visit Dundak

YouTube

Aside from directly supporting the capoeira community through Dundak, my favorite method for finding capoeira music is YouTube. Nothing beats stumbling upon footage of a real roda with a beautiful, full bateria to get my mind and body in the mood to play capoeira.

There are endless videos and many playlists that can easily be found just by searching for “capoeira roda”, or variations of that. Enjoy and explore!

Search for “capoeira roda” on YouTube

Spotify

You might be surprised to hear that the music streaming service has a fair amount of capoeira music from the usual suspects such as Mestre Acordeon, Mestre Barrão, and Mestre Suassuna. While I can’t speak to the compensation that each artist receives when you stream on Spotify, we can be pretty certain that it is not as supportive as a service like Dundak, which is specific to capoeira music and has a closer relationship with each of the artists.

If you’re a Spotify subscriber already, it’s worth looking through the catalog and making a playlist for yourself! However, we encourage our readers to stick to Dundak as much as possible.

Mestre Acordeon’s seminal album Jogo Capoeira Ê on Spotify

 

Listen With Intent

Whatever blend of these choices you incorporate into your capoeira life, be deliberate and intentional. Capoeira is full of immensely talented people, and that’s absolutely true of its musicians. The mestres and artists whose music we train to every day deserve to be recognized for their contributions and supported by the community.