I did start this post about 12 months ago after having spent 6 month in the cidade maravilhosa: Rio de Janeiro. I will just try to edit the first part, take the non sense out and leave it clear. The folowing post will be what I do think now, 12 months after. So it might be interesting... or not. You tell me!! So brace brace, cos we're going deep.
Last year: It's been a while since I wanted to talk about this. All brazilian sort of want to be malandro as a way of being (aka doing malandragem, doing things as a malandro or like a malandro would do) but you don't really have to be a carioca (carioca is the inhabitant of Rio de Janeiro) to be a malandro. But what on earth is malandro? who is malandragem? WTF am I reading this blog??? If this is what you are asking yourself, then you're in the good spirit, now let me drive you through my understanding after 6 months of living in the cidade maravilhosa.
Malandragem is not someone, but an act. Malandro is someone that practice malandragem. For what is malandragem, I think I will need to feed you with examples rather than trying to summarise the behavior. I first started to hear about it when I was learning capoeira (brazilian martial art, my "heroin fix" so as to say, but I quit being an addict, I am now afficionado, I switched my addiction to my wife...that's another subject, read the other blog). In capoeira when someone is called malandro it is almost a bliss, especially for us non brazilian because it meant you understood some of the essence of the game and you could deceave your playing partner, trick him and eventually sentence the "lethal blow" (2011 September me: dear God what am I writing!!). Dont worry, no gringo capoeirista has ever been lethaly hit when that was done, it's a bit exagerated, just to give a dramatic notion (2011 September me: gee, I an't giving the art any credit!!). Being malandro would be faking you got hurt during the spar so that the partner would slow down and the moment you see an opening from your patner's position then you can throw a move that would destabilize him (2011 September me: I hope the readers know about capoeira or they'll think they are reading chinese). There would be a lot of acting around, and it would go as far as mimicry to be able to deceave your patner. Playing tired, changing the pace of the game to fake tiredness.... all that is included into malandragem. You sort of want to take advantage of a situation over your patner to win. Poker can have that same philosophy, it's an art of tricks and fooleries. So when I was learning capoeira I was learning malandragem and it had an amazing function of teaching me human behaviors, my own limits and actually my own self towards the other. learning to impose myself, through malandragem.
...End of part 01, but personnaly I am not very impressed. I'll try in the next post to give you better impressions
Last year: It's been a while since I wanted to talk about this. All brazilian sort of want to be malandro as a way of being (aka doing malandragem, doing things as a malandro or like a malandro would do) but you don't really have to be a carioca (carioca is the inhabitant of Rio de Janeiro) to be a malandro. But what on earth is malandro? who is malandragem? WTF am I reading this blog??? If this is what you are asking yourself, then you're in the good spirit, now let me drive you through my understanding after 6 months of living in the cidade maravilhosa.
Malandragem is not someone, but an act. Malandro is someone that practice malandragem. For what is malandragem, I think I will need to feed you with examples rather than trying to summarise the behavior. I first started to hear about it when I was learning capoeira (brazilian martial art, my "heroin fix" so as to say, but I quit being an addict, I am now afficionado, I switched my addiction to my wife...that's another subject, read the other blog). In capoeira when someone is called malandro it is almost a bliss, especially for us non brazilian because it meant you understood some of the essence of the game and you could deceave your playing partner, trick him and eventually sentence the "lethal blow" (2011 September me: dear God what am I writing!!). Dont worry, no gringo capoeirista has ever been lethaly hit when that was done, it's a bit exagerated, just to give a dramatic notion (2011 September me: gee, I an't giving the art any credit!!). Being malandro would be faking you got hurt during the spar so that the partner would slow down and the moment you see an opening from your patner's position then you can throw a move that would destabilize him (2011 September me: I hope the readers know about capoeira or they'll think they are reading chinese). There would be a lot of acting around, and it would go as far as mimicry to be able to deceave your patner. Playing tired, changing the pace of the game to fake tiredness.... all that is included into malandragem. You sort of want to take advantage of a situation over your patner to win. Poker can have that same philosophy, it's an art of tricks and fooleries. So when I was learning capoeira I was learning malandragem and it had an amazing function of teaching me human behaviors, my own limits and actually my own self towards the other. learning to impose myself, through malandragem.
...End of part 01, but personnaly I am not very impressed. I'll try in the next post to give you better impressions
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