[3] Angoleiros preserve oral traditions about capoeira's origins and maintain a connection with the ancestral art of engolo.

[5] The name Capoeira Angola acknowledges the fact that Angolan slaves in Bahia were the ones who stood out the most in its practice.

[13] Ever since, many studies have supported the oral tradition, identifying engolo as an ancestral art and locating the Cunene region as its birthplace.

[14][15][16] In the 19th century, an extremely violent version of capoeira developed in Rio de Janeiro, associated with gangs, organized crime and murder.

This street-fighting capoeira carioca used foot kicks, head butts, hand blows, knife fight and stick-fighting,[17] and was very different from the original Angolan art.

[7] Muniz Sodré wrote: In a small town called Itapeme there was only one person who knew how to play capoeira, the barber.

In all the Recôncavo Baiano, a part of the state of Bahia, capoeira was almost religious and had a very strong African presence.

In early 1930s, Mestre Bimba developed systematic training method for capoeira, including kicks from other martial arts.

[31] In 1937, Bimba founded Centro de Cultura Física e Luta Regional, with permission from Salvador's Secretary of Education.

[28] That year, he legally registered Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA), in the Salvador neighborhood of Pelourinho, which attracted many traditional capoeiristas.

[35] Pastinha adopted the colors of his favorite soccer club, Ypiranga, yellow and black, which became the hallmarks of the Angola style he taught.

[36] Despite their significant differences, both mestres introduced major innovations – they moved training and rodas away from the street, instituted the academia, prescribed uniforms, started to teach women and presented capoeira to a broader audiences.

[37] However, many capoeira Angola mestres including Waldemar, Cobrinha Verde and Gato Preto did not become part of Pastinha's school, and the art continued to live outside the academy as well.

[4] Traditionally, capoeira in Bahia was exclusively accompanied by a large Bantu drum, which had been targeted by police repression in the 19th century.

[43] In the early 20th century, the most significant musical change was the shift from the drum to the berimbau, becoming the primary instrument in capoeira.

Muniz Sodré wrote that in Santo Amaro, capoeira music was played to the sound of a small guitar.

He experimented with various instruments, occasionally incorporating guitars (viola de corda) and even introducing Spanish castanets into the roda.

[48] Today, typical bateria formation in capoeira Angola is three berimbaus, two pandeiros, one atabaque, one agogô and one ganzuá.

[50] Pastinha based his style on the slower Angola rhythm, while Mestre Bimba preferred the faster São Bento Grande, although both used a wide range of toques.

The games in capoeira Angola last long, sometimes over ten minutes, enabling a more extended dialogue among participants.

[57] In Pastinha's academy, there was a very high number of people over 60 years of age who have practiced capoeira, with impressive joint agility and flexibility.

He emphasizes the following characteristics of contemporary capoeira Angola, namely: cunning, complementation (of the two players" movements), a low game, the absence of violence, beautiful movements (according to a "black aesthetic"), slow music and the importance of ritual and theatricality.

[56] Old mestres teach that capoeira Angola is "the art of fighting with a smile", but they also emphasize the importance of being prepared to defend oneself.

Although mestre Pastinha at his academy required students to wear yellow and black jerseys, some of his successors have adopted white only uniforms within their schools.

Capoeiristas who have practiced different styles for an extended period and then decide to switch to Angola are often viewed with disapproval and labeled as regional.

[60] [As engolo], nineteenth-century capoeira was also played from a more erect position and the ground game was probably only developed later on the flat and stony surfaces of squares and piers in Brazilian port cities.