Setting off on this trip as reminded me of one of my great regrets, I don’t have many so this is a biggy, that eight years ago when I was last in South East Asia I never got round to editing footage and finishing a proposed documentary. It was supposed to be about the spread of capoeira and the influence of Brazilian culture in region.
People had just begun to learn about and practice capoeira at that point. It’s probably old news now but back then it was a brand new thing that people were just getting into and they were all learning on YouTube, with very few Brazilian teachers actually present, particularly in Indonesia.
One of my good friends Rod Penn, also known in the capoeira world as Professor Medusa thanks to his ginger dreadlocks, at the time was with Group Senzala and he hooked up with a group and began teaching them what the game was about. Up to that point for them it had been about pulling off the ‘cool moves’ they were watching in the videos with little understanding that the game was about a deeper interaction, that there were rituals and codes embedded in the rhythm of the music. In return these amazingly talented Indonesians taught Rod some mad acrobatic skills and they became a very close group.
I had the opportunity to film them and with any luck at some point I might be able to edit this into something vaguely watchable. The footage in the cover is of Kenoko years ago and its one of the best things I captured while out there. I’ve been completing a lot of projects and tying up loose ends lately. I’ll likely not finish everything before I go but there are certain projects that just need to be done because they make your arse itch when you think about it. I’ll need to complete it at the end of my journey and maybe need to get help to stitch it together.
Well you can look at it as chapter 2 of your unfinished story, and on the journey to find an ending!! That’s if you remember to wake up, and ride to your next destination!!