Ginga e balança, balança e ginga,
Eu quero ver, o balanço na mandinga.
Meu berimbau, tem laço de fita,
No meu pescoço patuá contra mandinga.
Ê, jogo de Angola e Regional,
Jogo de dentro, não pode correr do pau.
Ê, entrou na roda, puxou a ginga,
Balança o corpo,
Pensando em Mestre Bimba.
Swing and scale, scale and swing,
I want to see, the swing in the mandingo.
My berimbau, has a ribbon bow,
On my neck, it is against mandinga.
Ê, Angola and Regional game,
Playing inside, it can't run from the stick.
Ê, got in the roda, pulled the swing,
Rock the body,
Thinking of Mestre Bimba.
The ginga (literally: rocking back and forth; to swing) is the fundamental movement in capoeira, important both for attack and defense purposes. It has two main objectives. One is to keep the capoeirista in a state of constant motion, preventing him or her from being a still and easy target. The other, using also fakes and feints, is to mislead, fool, trick the opponent, leaving them open for an attack or a counter-attack.
The song refers to Mandinga which is a tricky and strategic quality of the game, and even a certain esthetic, where the game is expressive and at times theatrical, particularly in the Angola style. The roots of the term mandingueiro would be a person who had the magic ability to avoid harm due to protection from the Orixas.
