April 2005 – Marco Schaumloeffel

The African contribution to Brazilian Sports

Text for Graphic Sports – Weekend Edition 15 apr 2005

The African contribution to Brazilian Sports

Last time I wrote about the huge contribution of the people of African origin in Brazilian football. Their contribution is obviously not only restricted to football, but can be extended to many other sports in Brazil. They were responsible for the creation of a new modality in sports called capoeira.

During the Olympic Games 2004 in Athens it was possible to see that large part of the crew of athletes representing Brazil in the games is of Afro-Brazilian origin. Afro-Brazilians are present in the collective sports like volleyball and basketball, but also in individual modalities.

Brazilians are normally very proud of their athletes, especially if they are able to win a medal. During the last Century a lot of Afro-Brazilians became legends of sports. This is the case of a very important Afro-Brazilian called Joao Carlos de Oliveira, known as “Joao do Pulo”. His nickname means “John, the Jumper”. In the Panamerican Games in Mexico in 1975 he broke the world record with the mark of 17.89 meters. It was so impressive, that this jump remained for 10 years as the world record. In the same Games he also won the gold medal in the long jump (8.19m).

Years earlier, already Adhemar Ferreira da Silva, a former Brazilian cultural attaché in Nigeria, became famous when he broke several times the world record in the triple jump. In the same Olympic Games (1952) e. g. he broke the world record four times and raised the mark to 16.22 meters. He was from a poor family, a real symbol of achievement. He worked during the day, studied at night and trained during his lunch hour. The deserved reward were two gold medals in this category.

Joaquim Cruz, another Afro-Brazilian, won the Olympic gold medal on the track in the Olympic Games of Los Angeles 1984 with the new Olympic record of 1.43.0 in 800 meters. Nowadays we have a lot of new, very good Afro-Brazilian athletes, like the sprinter Wanderley Quirino and the celebrity Daiane dos Santos, elected in Brazil the Sports Women of the Year 2003. In the World Championship in the USA, she won the gold medal in Floor Exercises, with a sequence called “double twist carped”, called later “Dos Santos” by the International Federation of Gymnastic. In the World Cup in Germany, she surprised the world again with an even more difficult sequence, the “double twist extended”. She was a candidate for a gold medal in the Olympic Games 2004, but injuries interfered in the results and she ended as fifth best gymnast. Even though, a short time later, by the end of 2004, she was again Gymnastics World Champion.

In boxing we have today a man of Bahia called Acelino “Pop[MAS1] o” de Freitas. He is actually WBO lightweight world champion and still undefeated since the beginning of his career as a professional. In the past, Afro-Brazilians like Maguila were very famous. In Ghana you have a multi champion and legend of boxing, that doesn’t need any comments: Azumah Nelson, a Ghanaian and Tabom of Afro-Brazilian origin.

In spite of all the problems that athletic sports have, because the sponsorship of individual athletes in some modalities seems not to be of interest to big companies, the athletes can produce very good results. A lot of them are what we can call “half professionals”. Because of their condition as underpaid athletes they have other jobs to earn money. So they train e. g. in the early morning, during the day they work and go to evening classes to improve their educational level to have better professional perspectives after retirement as athletes. For these heroes of sport the Brazilians normally pay respect and admiration, because their story is a story of self-sacrifice, humility, passion and pride.

Capoeira, brought into Brazil by the Bantu people from Angola, was originally a kind of foot-boxing fight, a way of self defence. In Brazil, capoeira was transformed into a kind of sport-dance practised by two dancers that show figures of a fight in form of dance without touching each other. It is a sport with a lot of skill which requires a fit body condition and is always accompanied by Afro-Brazilian music of West African origin. The musicians and the other participants are in a circle around the dancers, singing and clapping hands.

When the Afro-Brazilians or even all the Brazilian athletes, independent of their origin, are taking part in a competition or a tournament, they show their typical superstition, combining Christian prayers and the sign of the cross with African fetishist rituals to protect their body against injuries and to help them to win the fight against their opponents in the competitions.

Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

Picture “daiane.jpg”: The World Champion Daiane dos Santos

Informações sobre os Tabom e o Durbar por eles organizado

Informações sobre os Tabom e o Durbar por eles organizado

Visita do Presidente Lula ao Gana
Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel

Leitor Brasileiro no Ghana Institute of Languages/University of Ghana desde 2003, enviado pelo MRE.

Press release para repórteres e jornalistas de vários meios de comunicação brasileiros que fizeram a cobertura da visita do então Presidente Lula ao Gana – 12.04.2005

O Durbar

Antigamente o durbar era a recepção oficial organizada para príncipes e para o vice-rei da Índia. No Gana, esse ato protocolar, trazido pelos ingleses, foi adapatado às tradições das tribos locais. O durbar é organizado para a recepção ou a despedida de personalidades e simboliza o afeto, a admiração e o respeito que um determinado clã dispensa à pessoa ou ao grupo de pessoas homenageadas. O rei (ou chefe) de um clã faz-se acompanhado de todo seu séquito, incluindo sub-chefes, chefes de família, lingüistas (mensageiros), rainha- mãe, princesas, capitães, percussionistas, dançarinas etc. As togas tradicionais, os colares e as pulseiras de miçangas, usados na ocasião, indicam a posição hierárquica de cada um. Alguns rituais são partes fundamentais de um durbar: os cumprimentos (primeiro por parte dos visitantes, depois por parte dos anfitriões); a cerimônia de libação para invocar a presença e homenagear os deuses e os antepassados; a distribuição de bebidas para os visitantes, que muitas vezes vêm a pé e chegam sedentos; os interlúdios de percussão e dança para aguçar os presentes ao próximo passo do durbar; os votos de boas-vindas do chefe do clã e a conseqüente resposta dos visitantes, anunciando o propósito de sua presença naquele local; a troca de presentes como forma de atar laços entre duas instituições amigas. O durbar ora oferecido ao Senhor Presidente da República segue basicamente todos esses passos. Durbars sem uma programação fixa podem durar várias horas, estendendo-se noite adentro, com interlúdios longos para danças e conversas entre anfitriões e hóspedes.

Os Tabom

Causa estranheza chegar no Gana e ouvir falar de um povo chamado „Tabom“. Os Tabom formam uma comunidade brasileiro-ganense, de retornados, que voluntariamente voltaram à África de seus antepassados, depois de terem comprado sua liberdade no Brasil*. Como na sua chegada ao Gana somente sabiam falar português, usavam os cumprimentos conhecidos “Como está?” e a resposta informal “Tá bom”, além de usarem o termo como uma concordância “Tá bom!”, daí a origem do nome dado a eles pelo povo Ga, que os recebeu amigavelmente. Sabe-se de várias comunidades de descentes de brasileiros em solo africano, grande parte delas no Benin, na Nigéria e no Togo, formando clãs com nomes como Souza, Silva ou Cardoso. Estudos estimam que no Século XIX aproximadamente 10.000 afro-brasileiros libertos voltaram à África. Em vários países da África Ocidental é possível encontrar bairros, escolas e museus com o nome “Brasil”. Em Lagos (Nigéria) há um “Brazil Quarter” e um clube com o nome “Brazilian Social Club”; no Benin há uma escola pública chamada “École Brésil”. Alguns afro-brasileiros são (ou foram) muito conhecidos em seus países. Um deles foi Sylvanus Epiphanio Olympio, eleito primeiro presidente do Togo em 1960. O primeiro Chachá do Benin, o chefe e controlador do comércio e da relações com os estrangeiros, foi o afro-brasileiro Francisco Félix de Souza,

que ficou muito rico através de seu envolvimento no tráfico de escravos. Ele teve 53 esposas, 80 filhos e 12.000 escravos. Quando faleceu, deixou de herança a seus descendentes uma fortuna estimada em US$ 120 milhões. A linha real dos Chachás existe até hoje no Togo. O primeiro Embaixador do Brasil em Gana, Raymundo Souza Dantas, cita em seu livro “África difícil”, ter recebido uma carta de um togolês chamado Benedito de Souza, que alegava ser seu primo.

No Gana, o único grupo significativo de retornados de que se tem notícia é o dos Tabom. Segundo relatos, a viagem do Brasil para o Golfo da Guiné foi feita em um navio chamado S. S. Salisbury, oferecido pelo Governo inglês. Em Acra chegaram em 1836, vindos da Nigéria, como visitantes. Foram tão bem recebidos pelo Mantse (chefe) Nii Ankrah, da área de Otublohum (na capital Acra), que resolveram ficar. O líder do grupo na época da chegada dos Tabom ao Gana chamava-se Nii Azumah Nelson. A família Nelson tem grande importância entre os Tabom. O filho mais velho de Azumah Nelson e seu sucessor, Nii Alasha, foi grande amigo do ilustre Rei Ga, Nii Tackie Tawiah. Juntos, eles ajudaram no desenvolvimento comercial e na melhoria das condições sanitárias do país. O atual Mantse, Nii Azumah V, é descente dos Nelson, como, aliás todos os outros chefes da história dos Tabom. Os Nelson são conhecidos por também terem a First Scissors House, a primeira alfaiataria do país, fundada em 1854, que, entre outras atividades, tinha a tarefa de fazer uniformes para o exército ganense. Prova dessas habilidades dos Tabom é o Sr. Dan Morton, atualmente o chairman dos Tabom e um dos alfaiates mais famosos do país.

Do povo Ga, eles receberam terras com localizações privilegiadas, em bairros hoje muito conhecidos da capital, como é o caso de Asylum Down, da área próxima à estação central de trens e da região em torno da Accra Breweries; nesses locais grandes árvores de manga são, ainda hoje, testemunhas da presença dos Tabom. No bairro de North Ridge, há uma “Tabon Street”, que lembra as plantações que eles tinham no lugar. Muitos Tabom vivem, desde a chegado ao Gana, no atual bairro de James Town, que fica de frente para o mar e próximo ao antigo porto de Acra. Lá há uma rua chamada Brazil Lane, onde está localizada a primeira casa que abrigou os Tabom, a Brazil House. Os Tabom iniciaram o cultivo de manga, mandioca, feijão e outros vegetais, além de trazerem do Brasil várias habilidades como técnicas de irrigação, carpintaria, arquitetura, trabalhos com metais, especialmente os preciosos, alfaiataria, entre outros, melhorando, dessa forma, a qualidade de vida de toda a população ganense. Além disso, os Tabom contribuíram no campo da religião, uma parte deles no estabelecimento do maometanismo, outra na preservação de cultos religiosos como o shangô. Hoje eles estão completamente integrados a Acra, são aceitos como parte integrante da divisão de Otoblohum, embora ainda sejam chamados pelo povo Ga de “the Brazilians”, bem como, entre os ganenses, ao se apresentarem, eles se autodenominem “Brazilian-Ghanaians”, como forma de destacar sua individualidade nessa sociedade.

* Até o presente momento ainda não está claro se eles realmente compraram sua liberdade e decidiram voltar à África, ou se já eram trabalhadores libertos que foram deportados depois da revolta dos Malês em 1835. Um grande número de afro-brasileiros foi deportado para a África, especialmente os de origem islâmica, que organizaram a revolta. Como os Tabom coincidentemente chegaram a James Town (Velha Acra) em 1836 e a maioria deles era de islâmicos, a hipótese da deportação não pode ser descartada. Somente estudos aprofundados poderiam provar uma ou outra tese.

Tabom People will welcome President of Brazil with a durbar

SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. Tabom People will welcome President of Brazil with a durbar. Daily Graphic, Accra, v. 149400, p. 15 – 15, 11 abr. 2005.

Tabom People will welcome the President of Brazil with a durbar

The Afro-Brazilian community in Ghana, known as Tabom People, will have the honour to organize a durbar to welcome the President of Brazil, H.E. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will be in Ghana from the 12th to the 13th April. It will be the first time that a Brazilian President will pay a visit to Ghana. Mr. Lula da Silva’s efforts show a clear policy in relation to Africa. In his first 3 years in office, he visited more African countries than all the other former Brazilian Presidents together. In this sense, Mr. Lula da Silva is strengthening the so called South-South relations between countries, apart from establishing stronger links between Africa and Brazil, the second biggest black nation in the world after Nigeria. And a part of these links between the two sides of the Atlantic is the Tabom People. It was a group of about 70 people that arrived in 1836 in Accra, after being freed as slaves in Brazil. Like many others in Nigeria, Benin and Togo, they decided to come back to Africa. Here they were most welcome by the Gas in the Otublohum Division in James Town. They received land and started to farm. They brought with them skills such as irrigation techniques, architecture, carpentry, blacksmithing, gold smithing and tailoring. In the area of the Angetebu Street (Adabraka), they dug wells and found non brackish water, thereby improving the sanitary conditions of all the people in Accra. The leader of the Tabom group at the time of their arrival was a Nii Azumah Nelson. Since that time the Nelson family has been very important to the History of the Tabom People. The eldest son of Azumah Nelson, Nii Alasha, was his successor and a very close friend to the Ga Mantse Nii Tackie Tawiah.

At the present moment the Tabom Mantse is Nii Azumah V, descendant of the Nelsons. The Tabons are also known as the founders of the First Scissors House in 1854, the first tailoring shop in the country, which had amongst other activities, the task to provide the Ghanaian Army with uniforms by the tailor George Aruna Nelson, master of Dan Morton, another Tabom and one of the most famous tailors nowadays in Accra. The First Scissors House still exists, and is very close to the Central Post Office.

Some of the Tabons still live nowadays in James Town, where the first house built and used by them on arrival in Ghana is located. It is called “Brazil House” and can be found in a short street with the name “Brazil Lane”. There are some plans of UNESCO and the Government of Brazil to restore this house, within the ‘Old Accra Integrated Urban Development and Conservation Framework’, a project of the Government of Ghana, transforming it in a cultural site for the Tabom to display their own History.

The beginning of the official relation between Brazil and the Tabom People was immediately after the set up of the Embassy of Brazil in Ghana in 1961. The first Brazilian Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Raimundo Souza Dantas was very well received by them. Since then the relations have become more intensive, and continue to grow.

So it is natural, that the first Brazilian President coming to Ghana wants also to interact with the Tabom community, his “Brazilian brothers” in Ghana.

Apart from the durbar of the Tabom People, Mr. Lula da Silva has other very important issues to deal with. He will hold several discussions with the Government of Ghana on e. g. bilateral agreements and the reform of the UN, and will launch the Ghana-Brazil Chamber of Commerce. Brazil is cooperating with Ghana in sectors like salt and cassava production. In a cooperation together with JICA (Japan) a group of 11 specialists was sent last month to Brazil to learn about the latest technology in cassava processing. Besides that, in the educational sector the Embassy has brought a Brazilian lecturer to teach Portuguese, Brazilian literature, History and Civilisation and is granting every year about 10 scholarships for Ghanaians to study in the best Brazilian universities.

Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

P.S.: the correct way to write the name of the Afro-Brazilian People is TABOM (with “m”) even though the right pronunciation is “tabon”.

Attached is a picture. Subtitle for it: “Nii Azumah III with from left to right on the front row Naa Abiana II, Queen Mother of the Tabom, H.E. Raimundo de Souza Dantas the Ambassador of Brazil to Ghana from 1961 to 1963, Mrs De Souza Dantas, the Ambassador’s wife, and their child between them. Nii Azumah III on the extreme right and other members of the Tabom Community in the background (1961).”

Source: Marco

The History of the Brazil House

Text for the Daily Graphic, Accra, Ghana, 09 Apr 2005

The History of the Brazil House

The History of the Brazil House is closely related to the History of the Tabom People, who returned to Ghana from Brazil in 1836. It is maybe the biggest material symbol of the importance of the Tabom People and a symbol of their History in Ghana. This becomes very clear when we look at its privileged location, in the Brazil Lane in Old Accra, facing the sea, straight in front of the old port, for a long time the gate from and to the world.

A chat with Mr. W. L. Lutterodt, a Tabom Senior and the accredited head of the Mamah Nassu family with authority to represent the family in all matters pertaining to Brazil House, reveals a lot of the History of the Brazil House.

When Mamah Nassu arrived together with six other families in 1836 from Brazil, he was the flag bearer of the clan. He bought that land in the Brazil Lane and built a house there for his family. He was married to Naa Supiana and had a daughter called Naa Chercher, who later married a royal from the Nii Oto Din family of Otublohum. This marriage is a clear sign that the Tabom People were welcomed and accepted within the Ga State. Naa Chercher had four children: Okanta Acquah, Kofi Acquah, Florence Acquah and Mary Acquah. Her son Kofi Acquah became a professional cook. He went to Warri in Nigeria and worked there for some years. On his return to the Gold Coast he demolished the old family house built by Nii Mama Nassu and replaced it by the present two storey house as a family house for himself and his sisters.

For a considerable number of years the late Kofi Acquah leased the house to various European businessmen and companies. One of these companies built a warehouse on the land, which they used for their business.

From the year 1942 however the house was no longer rented out and the family went to live there. The warehouse was converted into dwellings and let out to outsiders. A few surviving members who are direct descendants of Kofi Acquah are also living in the house.

Since the Brazil House is in state of disrepair, the Brazilian Government had together with UNESCO and the Tabom People the idea to rehabilitate it. Apart from these institutions, the Government of Ghana is also supporting the project within the so called “Old Accra Integrated Urban Development and Conservation Framework”.

The Brazil House will serve as a cultural space where Brazil and the Brazilian community in Ghana will be able to interact with the Tabom People and the general public, and it will serve as the Official Hall of the Tabom Mantse. Most of the people currently living on the premises will remain on the site and will see their dwellings refurbished in the context of the project.

The Tabom Mantse’s Official Hall will highlight the Brazilian roots of the Tabom People by establishing a documentation centre and an exhibition space where the Tabons will have a chance to learn more about their History and its linkages to Brazil.

It is interesting to note that the rehabilitation of Brazil House deals with an interesting aspect of the Slave Route Project: The return of descendants of former slaves from Brazil to the continent of their ancestors.

The announcement made yesterday by Mr. Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Repubic of Brazil, donating a considerable amount of money to the Tabom foundation for the rehabilitation of the Brazil House was a great step by Brazil in supporting the Tabom People in its efforts to have a cultural centre that shows their History. On the other hand, very good news came from the private sector for the Tabom People: Coral Paints (M&K Ghana) released the information today that they will also donate money for the named foundation, completing the needed funds for the rehabilitation project to become a reality.

Source: some of the information used here are in the brochure “Brazil House Rehabilitation Project”

Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana

Attached: picture of the Brazil House in the Brazil Lane in James Town

The African contribution to Brazilian Football

SCHAUMLOEFFEL, Marco Aurelio. The African Contribution to Brazilian Football. Graphic Sports – Weekend Edition, Accra, v. 2289, p. 10 – 11, 08 abr. 2005.

The African contribution to Brazilian Football

To think of Brazilian football without African contribution is virtually impossible. We are the only nation that participated in all the World Championships ever organized and are five times World Champions (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002). One of the biggest factors for this feat is undoubtedly the African characteristics brought into our way of playing this game.

Football was introduced in Brazil by the Brazilian Charles Miller in 1894. He was the son of an English couple, studied in England and played in the team of Southampton as a striker. When he returned to Brazil, he brought two balls and could hardly imagine what a sensation he would cause in our country. The first official team in Brazil was Sport Club Rio Grande, founded in 1900 in the South of Brazil by guys of German, English, Portuguese and Brazilian ascendancy. Soon after that all the other, today famous, clubs like Sao Paulo, Corinthians, Flamengo, Fluminense, Gremio, Santos and Palmeiras were founded.

Initially it was only played by people of the highest social standing, being considered a “noble” sport like golf, tennis or yachting. But soon people started to improvise the game with e. g. balls made of leather and stuffed with old paper or rags. Any vacant lot, sand area, river bank or even in the middle of the street is an appropriate place to play an amateur match, that we call “pelada”. Pelada is for everybody who enjoys to play football, poor and rich, black and white. It is maybe the most democratic popular institution in the world. Apart from that, it is certainly the birthplace of the biggest new Brazilian football stars. Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho Gaucho, just to cite a few, started their careers in the streets, before they could play in the largest football stadium in the world, the Estadio Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, which can hold a crowd of over 200,000.

Everyday I can see peladas in various parts of Accra, which I’m sure is pure fun and certainly also good grounding for new Ghanaian football talents.

Since football was considered a sport for “special” people in the early 1910’s, the Afro-Brazilians were initially not allowed to play in the clubs. But it was inevitable to notice their abilities for the game. Soon football worked as an emancipation instrument for poor black, mullato and white people. In 1923 the team of Vasco da Gama won the cup of Rio de Janeiro, with a team basically composed of Afro-Brazilians rejected by other clubs, causing the admiration of football fans. The club “Gremio” of Porto Alegre, founded in 1903, e.g. only in 1952 decided to end with racial selection of players, contracting the first Afro-Brazilian player. It was the forward Tesourinha, a football genius (less than 10 years ago Gremio produced the Afro-Brazilian Ronaldinho). The natural skills of the Afro-Brazilians in football, the malleability and cadence, sense of improvisation, the spectacular dribbles and control of the ball were finally recognized.

If the theme is Brazilian football, we can not forget the ever greatest player. We call Mr. Edson Arantes do Nascimento simply “Rei Pele” (King Pele). Between 1956 and 1977 Pele scored 1,279 goals, becoming the player ever to have scored the biggest number of goals in official matches. His 1000th goal was scored in his 909th match. And these are only the official figures, without all the goals scored in unofficial matches, in which he took part, just to give an idea. Because of him and his Santos Futebol Clube, we have today, amongst others, teams in Guyana, Jamaica, South Africa, Namibia, Burkina Faso and in the second division in Ghana with the name “Santos”. One of the best and most famous Ghanaian players gave himself, not casually, the nickname Abedi Pele.

The same qualities can be said of the Afro-Brazilians in the women national team. In this modality Brazil has to learn a lot from other national teams. It is a relatively new modality, so that we can not have legends like Pele in women football, but one of the most famous players of the team is the Afro-Brazilian striker “Pretinha”, who is only known by her nickname which makes very clear her origin, for “Pretinha” is how we call, with affection, a small back girl.

Apart from all the abilities of the Afro-Brazilians, we also show the world what we inherited from the Afro-Brazilians before the beginning of each match due to our association of sport and religion. Many players make the sign of the Cross and practise mystic rituals, in the hope to disarm the adversary. The majority of sports lovers, especially football players, managers, coaches and fans, show a kind of superstition, a kind of mixture between Catholic belief and Afro-Brazilian rituals. If somebody really wants to protect his team, he performs or orders a voodoo session that we call macumba, which can be seen in some cities at street corners in the early morning.

From the national selection of 2002, which won the World Cup in Korea and Japan, 15 out of 22 players selected for the Brazilian national team were Afro-Brazilians, figures that show the importance of the contribution of Afro-Brazilians in our football. Since the 1930’s Brazilian football players, especially Afro-Brazilians, who enjoy a good reputation, were sent abroad, to play in the most famous European teams. Under a European team scheme, they have contact with more rigorous planning and tactic organization. Today, Brazilian players can be found in all the continents. Tunisia, the African Champion of 2004, for example, naturalized two Brazilians to play in their selection.

And it is just the mixture of the African abilities with the European discipline, the severe schemes, straight and without any creativity, that created the Brazilian football, admired all over the world. The best example of good results and profits of a sport globalisation is a Brazilian player with roots in Africa, who goes with all his creativity and innuendos to Europe to learn all about the boredom of planned everyday life in sports. The result, as we know, is superb.

P.S.: I used here conscious the term “football” instead of the strange word “soccer”. In Brazil we ignore the violent American football, and I prefer to stay with “football” (“futebol” in Portuguese) in its original meaning, the art that combines “foot” and “ball”. Since football has world dimensions and is not restricted to a few societies, I believe that we have the right to keep it with its original meaning.

Marco Aurelio Schaumloeffel
Brazilian Lecturer in Ghana