Bimba's Rhythm is One, Two, Three: From Resistance to Transformation in Brazilian Capoeira

by Lang Maria Liu

Bimba’s Rhythm is One, Two, Three is Lang Maria Liu’s first book. Part ethnography, travelogue and personal odyssey, it bridges many genres in its search for truth and hope. The reader is taken deep into the Afro-Bahian world of capoeira on the northeast coast of Brazil, where slave ships once plied the shores. During three trips to Brazil undertaken for her Ph.D., the boundaries between research and personal experience blur. Recently divorced and having left behind the capoeira school she co-founded with her ex-husband in Canada, the author finds herself falling in love with a capoeira master. Will she find her place in this world, one so different from her own? And can the wounds of her past, stretching back generations, ever be healed? Here, amongst the Afro-Bahians whom she fears at first, the author learns about our common humanity, and that the act of surrender – something she has fought all her life – may be the only true path to joy.

419 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2018

Reviews

[Emerson Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a foreigner deeply in love with capoeira this book hit me in all the right places. I felt like I was next to her in the Pelourinho, having these amazing conversations with various mestres. I also appreciate some of the lenses through which this work was approached. It took the discourse to a deeper level. I couldn't help but crave a bit more of the feminist perspective, but that desire did not take away the joy of reading this book. I am almost done with book 2!