Wu (seated right) and Liew hold the posters with representatives of the sponsors and organising committee during the press conference.
KUCHING: Capoeira Club MSC Tabuan Jaya, in partnership with Movimento Simples de Capoeira (MSC) Sarawak, is holding its annual ‘Batizado de Corda’ festival ‘Simplesmente Capoeira 2016’ with more international guests to showcase their abilities.
The event, into its fourth year and to be held from July 13-17, is endorsed by the Brazil Embassy with head of mission Daniel Falcon Lins noting: “Instructor Bocao Malcolm Wu has been actively promoting capoeira and Brazilian culture in Malaysia for over eight years.”
“The event represents one of the most important cultural manifestations from Brazil. MSC Sarawak is the only capoeira group in Sarawak and its mission is aligned with the Brazilian Cultural Programme promoted by the embassy,” he said.
The event is also supported by Youth and Sports Department, Sarawak, Urban Ape and OurYouth.my.
Sponsors include ChinaHouse at the Old Courthouse, Samba – Ipanema, Cafe Cafe, 360Express, Data Print Centre, Above The Line Sdn Bhd, Lepau Restaurant, Bukit Mata Seafood Restaurant and Kuehpedia.
“Capoeira has a lot of potential in Sarawak. Bringing down this sport here is a fantastic way of bringing our youths together,” said Malcolm Wu, the founder and president of MSC Sarawak at a press conference yesterday.
Wu, who has practised capoeira for 11 years, added that his aim was to bring in foreign art and culture to the state and expose Sarawakians to Brazilian art and culture and vice versa.
“We have over 100 capoeira practitioners in Sarawak, with the majority of them in Kuching and small groups in Miri and Bintulu,” he said.
OurYouth.my founder Dato Patrick Liew said he decided to support Wu in promotion of the art as he was very impressed with the latter’s passion and active participation in promotion of youth activities.
“We are helping Wu to create more awareness among the public on capoeira through the social media and I hope this will be a very successful event come this July,” said Liew who thanked the media for highlighting the events of the Batizado de Troca festival.
The ‘Batizado’ or baptism is a grading ceremony for local capoeira practitioners as well as an overall festival to celebrate the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira.
Batizado could only be described as a dance, a carnival, a circus and a back alley street fight moulded into one which only Brazil could muster.
MSC Sarawak has been actively promoting capeoira and pulling in people from all over the world to practise the art with local practitioners.
Guests from previous festivals range from Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, China and the US.
This year is of no difference with invited guests such as Prof Rafael, Prof Rubens, Prof Soldado and instructors such as Tataruga, Azeitona, Magia, Noko and Lilica gracing Kuching with their presence.
The four-day event will include capoeira workshops, Roda de Rua (street game), Samba de Roda (samba on the streets) Maculele, Samba Batucada and grading ceremony.
It kicks off on July 13-14 with a capoeira workshop at Youth and Sports Complex multi-purpose hall followed by a capoeira workshop at Crown Towers on July 15.
Local band “At Adau” will also perform a few songs from their debut album on July 16 with kids workshop, Kids Batizado E Troca de Corda, adults workshop, adults Batizado E Troca de Corda lined up for the day. On July 17, the adults workshop and Roda de Capoeira will be held at ChinaHouse At The Old Courthouse.
For more information regarding the event, contact Wu at 012-9083884 or visit www.capoeirasarawak.com.