African martial arts

[Streetprince]

does any body know anything about african martial arts? i have heard that it morphed into tap dancing cause the slaveowners wouldnt let them practice it?

[JFragment]

THey talk a little bit about it under Learn UFC on www.ufc.tv and then fighting styles.

[BrotherD]

StreetPrince
There are many AMA styles most have a common theme if you will.
They are not separated from day to day living. AMA are linked to living rituals
The way we play and rejoice all have a part in what you call AMA. The body is used as a living expression of the people. Thus everything is one. One learns to fight through play, and when the skill is developed the game changes.
You learn more about life and your responsibilities. So young Men are initiated into Hunting\ Warriors societies where his training will be completed.
So understanding the Dance is how we express ourselves. Although most people buy into the concept of our fighting styles becoming dances, that’s not always the case. We Dance and have dances for many reasons to rejoice and to grieve… But there are also War Dance to invoke the Ancestors to join you in battle thus if you’re not having a good day hunting or you’re getting handled on the battle field it is believed that the Ancestors were not appeased and thus have forsaken you this is a bad omen. So when the slaves were not permitted to play the drums many found other ways to appeased their GODS and Ancestors, so through play (mock war rituals) (dance) you can find the elements of these fighting systems. Those chosen from the circle are shown the spiritual rituals that accompany these mock rituals.
They are quite a few AMA that have survived the middle passage.
Mani in Cuba
Ldja Martinet
Capoeria in Brazil
Knockin N kickin in North America
Pinge in Hattie
Too many to Name on the Continent
Nuba wrestling
Huasa Boxing
Laamb
Labanda
Zulu stick fighting
Etc…
Most of these are played as sports, once you enter into societies then things get interesting. Common to all of these are movement (rhythm) and wrestling (freestyle)
And Boxing (slaps and club fist)
Hopes this helps
Peace.

[BrotherD]

After the day, one danced the ladja or danmyé. Danmyé allows to rest itself after the labour; its rate/rhythm fast and is enjoué. It invites to dance. It is also a soft form of the prohibited dance of ladja.
The ladja is a dance of combat accompanied by drum, Ti-bwa and song. It was prohibited by the catholic Church because of the use of the drum (the Africans used the drum to communicate with their divinities). Slower than danmyé, which gives him a more serious character, it was practised saturdays evening. Only the majò (in French major) dance the ladja which was completed sometimes by the death of one of the combatants. One calls major a dancer who makes authority. Its only weapons are its body, its agility, its intelligence. The ladja requires a long and rigorous preparation majò and called upon a control of paranormaux, supernatural elements that some qualify quimbois, equivalent rite of the voodoo haïtien.

[HtTKar]

Very interesting BrotherD. You seem to know quite a bit, Thanks for sharing.
Do you know anyting about Egyptian stick-fencing?

[HtTKar]

Egyptian stickfencing

http://www.sis.gov.eg/public/magazin...html/mag04.htm

At-tahtib ?Singlestick Fencing

It is among the most popular games in Upper Egypt. It dates back to the Ancient Egyptian era.The murals at Tuna-al-Gabal in Menia and, tombs in Bani Hassan and The Northern Monastery ?Ad-Deir El-Bahary?in Luxor reflect the ancient Egyptian deep interest in singlestick fencing. The game is a meeting between two players starting by an argument, where each tries to discover the other?s strong and weak points.

Each adversary tries to reach a certain part of the other?s body and pretend to hit it. The game is exercised in a circle of a three meter diameter. The match is divided into three-minute three rounds. Places of contact in the body are the chest, armpit and head.

Touching the head is a knock out, while hitting the hand holding the stick is prohibited. Singlestick fencing is considered the oldest self-defence games.

[BrotherD]

Only what's on line HtTKar,
I have seen and played with Naboot which is also from that region in Africa...
It's done with a short staff about 5', There are tons of African stick games some are still contect to the sword and others are just stick games like the donga.
I'll add to the thread with some info. This is form an Essay from Dr. Thompson
call Dancing between two worlds.
" As Latin split into Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, so a nuclear set of combat moves from Kongo, when brought to the New World, differentially creolized into the mani, Ladja, capoeira and knockin-and kickin black martial arts. These emerged, respectively, in Cuba, Martinique, Brazil and the United States. The originating core from Kongo includes special head-butts, which are said to come from close study of male goats butting with their horns (tuumba), trip-em-ups (hitting the ankle of your opponent with your foot to make him fall) and kicks (matambi). The head-butts, according to Samba Jean, (a Mu-lari who is making a systematic study of the combat games of his people) can be classified according to direction: Ku matu, straight aheadto the head; mu ndeko, a blow from the left or right hand side of one’s head along the temple of the opponent; and mu dumuka, with a lunge up across the chest up into the head or chin of an assailant. Falling to the ground, one leg bent, the other straight out, called negative in capoeira (in KiKongo kulu ku mosi kwa tilala, kwa kaka kwa futamana) is said to be used to protect oneself (swama), even mystically, for this is a pose to protect one’s body from witchcraft (vula-vula mu kabisa ba ndoki). "
enjoy...

[Uke]

The short and correct answer to your original question is capoeira. Its the style that Africans weren't allowed to practice that morphed into dance. Two stlyes of capoeira: Regional and Angola.

Common misconception is that no style of capoeira uses hands or weapons. That is not so. Some do both. Some do full contact sparring.

Capoeira is now commonly practiced in Brazil, but was not created in Brazil. Some Brazilian masters contest this, but their history makes no sense. Indians were not used as slaves, and this is well documented because the Europeans felt as though too many died because they weren't built for the inhuman manual labor and conditions of slavery. So, with this fact in mind, and knowing that Capoeira was brought to Brazil by African slaves, it makes no sense to suggest that Capoeira was created in Brazil. Maybe they meant that the name Capoeira was started in Brazil, but certainly not the fighting art.