Tibúrcio José de Santana
Mestre Tiburcinho
1884? - 19??
The ABC of M Tiburcinho
1884(?) - Was born in Jaguaripe(?) son of Francisco José de Santana and Marciana Maria de Araújo.
1968 - Appears in the book of W. Rego. Recorded sound for the filme called Dança de Guerra of Jair Moura (listen above and see below!).
1970 - Jair Moura wrote an article about him to A Tarde in 28th February (read below!).
1971 - Appears on the photo with M Bimba in Nordeste de Amaralina, Salvador.
19?? - Died.
Dança de Guerra, 1968
Jaguaripe, Bahia
Photo gallery
The text
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page 1
-TIBURCIO AND THE BATUQUE
Text and photos of Jair Moura
28th Feb 1970Starting his life of a batuque player in the beginning of this century, Tibúrcio José de Santana, known inside the "vagrant game" as Tiburcinho, had as a batuque master the old Bernardo José de Cosme, a respected figure there in Jaguaripe for his lively spirit, and one of the best players of that time. He had his demonstrations of the subsidiary game of capoeira always during the feasts of Nossa Senhora D'Ajuda or the traditionals pilgrimages.
According to Tiburcinho, the great batuqueiros around 1900 were Lúcio Grande, from Nazare das Farinhas, Manuel João, Pedro Gustavo de Brito, Liberato, Gregório Tapera, Pedro Correia, Francisco Chiquetada, Joaquim Grosso, Zeca de Sinhá Purcina, Leocádia Silva de Maria Arcanja, Euclides Lemos (Caco), Teotônio, Antônio Frederico, Eusébio de Tapuiquara, this last was a slave to the Abdon family from the Jaguaripe municipality.
Tiburcinho affirms that the batuque was a game and its competition was made of two contenders having as the fundamental point the defense of their sexual organs, due to the violent kicks destined to unbalance each of the fighters, whose attacks were strikes of thigh against thigh adding to the kick a "rapa" or "banda" besides the "baú" which is an imbalance kick. All the attention for the fight was made in the position of "banda solta" or a form of defense where both batuqueiros stayed in front of each-other, balanced on one leg in a primitive position.
BATUQUE
Despite his age passing 86 years*, Tibúrcio is relatively of same organic disposition of the old times, feeling only, sometimes, a loss of memory. He always forgets the place where he left his things. However when remembering his life of the ex-batuqueiro, the mind becomes clear and between smiles he describes the facts as if he were living them during the narration. For him the batuque was criminously forgotten by everyone. In spite of being a fight that was condemned by the police, due to the consequencies since always ended in conflicts with interventions by the authorities, it is an aspect of our folk customs and the ostracism it encounters today is not justified. The competitions mainly organized in Jaguaripe and Nazaré had the rhythm made by pandeiro, "tambaque" (war drum), and folk songs among which this more traditional one, whose stanzas were sounded like this:
* 1970-86=1884. Perhaps Jair Moura put the year 1878 to the booklet of Dança de Guerra in 1968, but in 1970 asked M Tiburcinho to specify and he gave his age as 86 [velhosmestres.com].
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page 2
Ê loandê!
Ê loandê!Tiririca, é faca de cotá
Não me cota mulequinha de SinháÊ loandê!
Mata m’embora
cada um tira o seu
vai-s’embroa!Geme no peito
morre na voz
Iaiá de Ioió
pancada no peito doiEu vi dizer
eu vi contá
rainha de Lopez
morreu no canaviáFolga nêgo,
branco não vem ca.
Se vié,
cruzo há de leváManinha vamo no mato,
no mato tem carrapato.
Maninha vamo no mangue,
no mangue tem carranguejo.
Maninha vamo na cama,
na cama ter percevejoThe other sung said:
Batuqueiro nôvo
de primeiro ano
ainda não entrou
já está derrudandoTo conclude, says Tibúrcio counting on his fingers on an opened palm, the main kicks given in batuque were: coxa lisa acompanhada; cruzo de carreiro; banda amarrada and baú. Today, living with his nephew Amaro Bonfim de Santana, in Madragoa, the son of Francisco José de Santana and Dona Marciana Maria de Araújo, Tiburcinho, is not worried. Nor complaints and doesn't feed illusions, when is bored goes to visit his old friends, and is like many others who participated actively in the "vadiagem". Today forgotten by all, although the "Folkloric Center of Bahia" uses his knowledge for the elucidation and enrichment of our folklore, is a surplus of an epoch that continues to attract attention and interest of many scholars of the old Bahia.