I have a machete. I now have new respect for it. I always knew the Haitian ppl were resilient but seeing how the traditions continue makes me respect them even more than I already did. This is a piece of living history.
He has a beautiful family. I hope he's getting paid well to instruct especially the foreign students. Haitians have been treated badly and have had their government overthrown by US to install a horrendous dictator that robbed that country, France forced them to pay back the cost of their own invasion. I don't know if any country has been screwed as badly as Haiti has, but these people have strength in them. They will rise again an advanced and honorable nation. And look at that beautiful family. Bless them, and all the working classes of the world.
This is Something we as kids our tought in Mexico, by our fathers. In el Rancho. I really enjoyed the video.Thank you, for sharing with us; the public.
Something we all share as humans across the world is the sword. A father teaches his sons this, because wether we like it or not, the sword is human, and humanity lives and dies by the sword.
The alcohol is symbolic and ritualistic. It's clearly ceremonial when he drinks before teaching. If you notice, after he defeats the foreign student he takes a sip and hands him the bottle. The foreigner pours out a splash and then also takes a sip. Ceremonial. That's is old African spiritual practices right there. the drinking and pouring of libation is very linked to cultural and spiritual practices.
Finally someone who gets it! Agreed, all of this is ritualistic and culturally significant, the roots of this martial art are based in Calinda or Kalenda (which itself has origins in Africa) and then reformed during the Haitian Revolution when it came in contact with European style fencing.
but how did that foreigner loose? he could have easily sliced open the mans back when he was facing the wrong way. or are machetes not sharp enough that whoever strikes first loses.
Reading through the comments, I see a lot of references toward being a town drunk with a machete. In most cultures, consuming alcohol before, during, and after a battle was/is common practice. Unlike the western civilization who sees alcohol as a party starter, other civilizations use alcohol as a helping spirit.
AllAmericanGuy01 What other cultures? it is important be more specific to avoid the trap of lumping all other cultures together. Alcahol is used as a party starter in many places as well as war. They use it for war too in the west, from ww2 even today western militaries give a lot of alcahol rations.
andymatheson82 and you know that he would lose how? Don't say dumbass shit cause you can't do what he's doing. You obviously have no honor or respect for martial arts and it's bc artist.
@@doug70101 Haitians are mixed. Yes they do have a huge concentration of Congolese and Benin descendants like many others in the Caribbean and South America who got the most slaves from the slave trade. Haitians also have polish descendants as well. You’ve got dark skins and light skins
that is a cool person i say.. normal and old but wise. And if many people didnt noticed he was trying to make his students follow his motions . Martial art doesnt need to be chinese or japanese to be perfect
@@vetrosinic5677 dude we are not talking about those martial arts. We are talking kenjutsu, iaijutsu, battojutsu and all other weapon based martial arts. Hands are cool and all but if someone in front of you is holding a weapon you are dead or lucky to escape.
A beautiful piece/tribute to Professor Alfred Avril, "I love it!" He was a master of machete and principles of manhood. May the Haitian ancestors who triumphed over Napoleon's army welcome you dear brother in the after life. Osu!
With people ranting about he is exposing his back and having openings, do you guys not realize he is guiding the stance of the student? I don't know anything about this but it looks like he is trying to guide the student in stance and create muscle memory for student to always look towards the opponent no matter what (him walking around) and keeping their machete up. He then randomly does attacks from different angles so that the student is ready to react quickly to defend. He said he was a teacher, so he is teaching them. He isn't fighting them...I don't know shit about this art, but his goals are clear, even I saw that....
Hunter Thepsimuang True fam I noticed the same thing, I really didn't know what the hell he was doing at the time but it makes sense. You could see he was steering his opponent in a way.
He's so far ahead of them that he doesn't fear them, that's what he is showing by his lack of stance. An example: A american envoy was in Japan, a japanese archer was to shoot a target only they put the target behind a veil. The archer shot, and to the americans surprise all the japanese began to applaud, not even having seen the target. He ran behind the veil and saw that the arrow had hit perfectly, his translator explained: The other samurai and diplomats knew it had already hit perfectly from the stance of the archer-samurai. As in, he doesn't have to perform his stances because everyone learned enough about this combat-style knows he is in total control.
Not only did the enslaved Afrikans defeat the french, they also defeated the british and the spanish armies to gain their freedom and end slavery!! napoleon was the last european country those Afrikans defeated!!
@@leob.venzen1153 where did you get that? Thats not what happend, the countey that the french invaded where getting, already not payed attention to the europeans, thier where only a small devition keeping guard, and then enabled them to take over, because of the lack soldiers,
Probably the same "spirit" he talked about lit the candle. I'm guessing that the tree near him is a Ficus religiosa, wich is (was?) famous in India for being home for elementals. He probably makes offerings by that tree, like when he spills some booze on the ground. Either that or his thumb is really hot.
Yes, it might be trickery. The movements he makes with the bottle are rather suspicious. But even so, it sure makes me wonder how a lifelong farmer in Haiti, with most certainly little to no education and knowledge of chemistry would do that. Also, why would he do that? Money? The whole story of the spirit teaching him the art would surely attract students but we dont know if he is paid for teaching the machete way and there are a thousand better ways to make money. Anyway, i dont want to overthink it.
The Universe Your being dramatic. Just think, these people have what they need, and maybe even not that. We get what we want. Plus they were even slaves. Next time just think about what they have, not what you have.
Looks his style is based mostly on binding and winding, controlling your opponent's blade. Very reminiscent of Roland Warcheza's teachings on Sword and Buckler.
@@denisemilfort4581 mostly yes, but there is a few influences, example the off hand on lower back, not unique to but most likely euro fencing influence.
The machete is a great tool from spain. Very versatile and devastating. I own my dad's machete from when he was in Vietnam. It's one of my favorite outdoor tools along side the hatchet.
The Machete was a tool that the Spanish & French forced Afrikan people to use on plantations to generate wealth for the Whites......that Black Revolutionaries and Freedom fighters converted into an Instrument of Liberation. This video is not about Spain.....this video is about the Afrikans who Defeated the people from Spain.
I also have a hatchet and machete from my dad. I practice with them too. I for one am happy to not be alone in doing this kind of stuff. I practice in my backyard, and I also make sticks from any wood that I can get, including an apple tree I have which I climb to cut the branches down with the hatchet. I hope you luck in your training. I am lucky that I used the sheathe as not to accidentally cut myself while practicing Kali and Haitian fencing with the machete. -Zach
He was projecting all of this attacks, he left his back open and no one took advantage (IE they were just dancing). In the last bit of the video the "Master" struck his student in the face while "Sparring", that's a big no no. You don't have to be a master in Martial arts to know this "Master" is just some drunk dude with too much time on his hands.
***** I've taken martial art classes. But still Leave Bleach out of this, it was such a good anime. Thing is I've never seen my master make a mistake while doing actual sparring (Not what was in this video). Sorry, just from any perspective, that old dude made too many mistakes in just that one video for me to consider him an elite of anything.
I train in and have taught filipino martial arts and I admit this is impressive. Machete fencing and FMA are derived from the Spanish or French invasion and controlled over the territories. much respect to this guy
Pete Zauw I have only a little experience with karate and kung fu. I only got to purple belt then had to stop. But what I want to know is how exactly is what this guy is doing wrong when you just said you haven't trained in this. I'm not trying to be be disrespectful, I'm just genuinely curious.
Pete Zauw And yes I know that I don't have much of a right to speak about it since I haven't learned it, but I'm just saying, how exactly do you know it's wrong?
You should have more respect than that. It was a cute joke that got u some likes, but it's not funny. This elders life and toil isn't something to joke about so flippantly. If u were a martial artist you'd know what he's doing. I play with the blade. I can see what he's doing and he's doing some deep shit! If u are a martial artist...shame on you. Find something else to throw jokes at. This man's skills aren't for joking. He raised 11 children and put them all through school in Haiti and you have the nerve to call him the town drunk? You've never worked a hard day in your life if you can fix your mouth to call a farmer lazy.
Thanks bruh, I put myself through college via scholarships and became the 1st black kid to graduate with a degree in CS from my university... then I started my own business and can afford to work from home... I know I'm not lazy. who the fuck are you again?
Mia they honestly don't know the value of what they wear .... therefore he doesn't even know what he is wearing .... I'm Haitian and I'm betting my ass off that other people make fun of that poor man
PTBM the camera crew mightve gifted some clothing for them. thats what came in to my mind when i saw it. im not saying he cant buy those shoes by himself, it only came into my mind. btw are you happy being an haitian? hows the wheater like there?
The Rhum he's drinking is called Rhum barbancourt, it's the most reputable Rhum in Haiti. It's exported throughout the Caribbean and also the states. It's often used to celebrate and also ceremonial purposes, a lot of people who practice voodoo use it to invoke lwa (spirits). When papa machete pour before drinking and passing it to his guests it's a sign of respect and fraternity. Great video Btw
I think the missing link to this story that everyone is looking for is where the techniques might have come from. A really good explanation for that would be Adbaraya Toya, the woman who trained Dessalines and many others for the revolution. She was a Mino warrior from Dahomey, a group of women who acted as a sort of special guard to the kind and country.
Hi. Just wondered if there is any more information on the women who fought in the haitian revolution? I have some books on the revolution - CLR James black jacobins has no mention of this woman LOL.
@@mjanny6330 No one forgets it. But why would we always talk about that ? Napoleon brought slavery back, but do you always mention slavery in the comment sections of videos talking about Napoleon ? I don't think so.
Well, the young have a fond and tangible memory of the Professor, the 'mark' on his cheek, a 'mark' not out of malice, but from sparring with the GREAT Professor Avril, the protector of the Revolutionary art of Machete Combat, that which freed a People. I totally full joyed this, much thanks.
He teaches them, to crawl before you walk, walk before you run, run before you sprint,sprint before you fly......cultivate techniques before you are attacked.....he's a master of his soul......a master of his game, and if you think you can kill him......how can judge a book by its cover......fear the man that practices one technique 10,000 times.....you'll learn
You're joking right? Because I didn't see any real sparring taking place throughout the entire video. They were doing 2 things, dancing, and projecting their attacks. Also in the last bit of the video the "Master" screwed up and struck his student in the face, which was his fault. Again just to be clear, I didn't see anything in this video that would lead me to think this guy is a master fencer of any kind.
I bet that's the exact same thing Napoleons' pomp ass army said in 1802 when they where sent to combat the Haitian Revolution: "I don't see any real sparring taking place...." What you call "dancing and projecting" in this video is what defeated Napoleons Grand Armée, probably the greatest combat force ever assembled.
Thousands of Napoleons troops were definitely killed by yellow fever, including his brother in law who was in charge. The French were still on the island until 1808, and returned 20 years later with gun ships and forced Haiti to pay for their independence. Read a book.
Reading the comments and it seems like people don't believe this is a skill. Most of the same people believe that in this 11 min video, he was supposed to show ALL of his secrets and sparring techniques with HIS OWN KIDS/FOREIGNERS with SHARP-ASS BLADES to legitimize his craft to a group of people that have never had a paper cut before... Seems Legit Oh and it seems like everyone forgot THAT HE LIT A FUCKING CANDLE USING NOTHING BUT HIS HAND AND A BOTTLE LITERALLY 2:10 INTO THE VIDEO! All I'm saying is this: Even if he was "The Town Drunk" or "Sluggish and Exposed his back too much" Give respect where it's do. A sluggish drunk put 22 people through school and could never ask google how to do it, give the man some props ffs...
Duracell2 my sentiments exactly! I'm seeing a lot of entitled people on here claiming to be experts, they probably can't even fold their damn clothes lmao. This old man is(was) r.i.p a living Jedi.
thx for the 2:!0 for some reason the idiot me skipped the most important part in this video. Good luck explaining others greatness, hopefully some will understand.
Unlike sword fighting that has hilts and guards, you can't just block with a machete. You have to let it flow and 'guide' it, moving your body instead. It's a really elegant form of fighting once you understand it.
Many criticisms from “internet experts” on here. Yet some of these techniques were passed down to these people from ancestors that took on 3 great European powers of their time: France, Britain and Spain freeing their people from oppression and slavery.
I Feel much respect for the way you write trying to defend these people AND their style, but yet they didn't acpmplish to takedown or defeat Europeans, It was their ancesters, so where or why have they prooved to be good fencers? They probably learned good stuff from ancesters but they Also probably watered It down removing sparring over the years passed, I am a recreational boxer AND fencer, do a lot of sparring AND real contact practice, AND I see their tecnique very very poor AND impractical.
@@antonioflores425 you gotta remember, a machete and a foil are two different weapons, a machete is much heavier, so while one good chop almost anywhere is liable to do some damage, it is not fast enough to be comparable to boxing or fencing. the techniques presented here are also watered down for sparring, as he is using the flat of the blade, in which case, the movements are slowed down even more by wind resistance.
@Jermaine Savory Don't be weird, they are African, they were shipped to country and later Haitian be their ethnicity. Just like in Jamaica there are Chinese Jamaicans, you think people are going to say "they're not Asian because their family has been there for 20 years." Nope.
To pose a simple question; If he didn't know what he was doing, had no stance, no structure, and was just a bumpkin with a machete. Who the hell taught his students to move, parry, and strike in the ways shown.
That my friend is a secret he personally would have to teach you. Im Haitian and our elders who have knowledge about certain things don't give out secrets to just anyone
You seem to have a problem understanding. He clearly explained that the knowledge was given to him by a spirit that descended from a tree (similar experiences have been described by Chamans and Black Magic practitioners in Africa).
Rhum barbancourt. He use that for everything. Drinking, praying, ceremonial stuff, holding it while practicing, cleaning wounds, etc...he must love this brand a lot.
+indigoxyz18 You can't get knicked with a blunt blade. Only bruised. He parried his son, and then definitely gave him a little knick on the cheek for not being prepared for the obvious followup riposte. His son just got parried and then froze for that crucial half a second. Doesn't look like it immediately, but slowed down there are definitely similarities between Tire Machete and classical European fencing.
THIS IS SO PURE!!!! PRAISE HAITI FOR ALL TIME. MY DEEPEST AND HUMBLED RESPECTS TO PAPA MACHETE!!!!!!!!!!! MY GOODNESS. GUESS IM VISITING HAITI FOR THE FIRST TIME. I MUST LEARN THIS ART I MUST!!!
Jinn posses his body. I do that too when my uncle let the jinn get inside my body. Its complicated its like making pact with jinn and they let you use some of their power.
Nah, it was a a full army with cavalary, infantry, canons, and european wars veterans as officers. It's a by design they call it slave revolt as if a bunch off slaves running aroung could defeat the most powerful army on earth, Napoleon army
@@Addi_Teacha509 yet neither you nor I have presented any type of information :) you mention I believe in tales and that you run by facts but I see neither here. But truth and fact is found in that the Count of Rochembau left the island and would never return again.
@@angelsc7588 if you wanted to learn you could listen to Haitian historian..do you know about the Haitian volunteers that fought in the US revolution against the brits.. you know about the military career of Toussaint L'ouverture beating the British and Spanish for the French, so many Haitian natives, many mixte ones that were officers.. you know about Dessalines beating the strongest nation in Europe.. you know about the battle were the French army asked for a truce to applaud the bravery of Capois La Mort? You come loaded with your ignorance with such arrogance that don't warrant any exercise of learning.. so if you want to learn you can, or can continue with whatever you want to believe.
that is some impressive skills thank you for sharing my deepest condolences to this legendary man's family & loved ones I'm am sure. his legacy is good hands again thank you for sharing this
So pure, I teach filipino martial arts (kali) to my daughter and there is nothing like the bond that comes from intimate one-on-one training. I was humbled watching the other brother watch his father doctor up his wounded brother. But what was even more impressive, is the expression on the fathers face, son pay attention or you could loose your head no do overs. Live training, wow! No wonder he will not teach his art to many, it is for the village and family.
The fact is, this is a holdover Art, directly descended from one of two cultures to beat Napoleon's Army in combat causing retreat. Who can judge how any master of any art teaches their students at a glance?
no disrespect,but my Grandfather worked in sugar cane fields his whole life. he supported 14 children and almost went blind. all this without getting drunk every afternoon and having drunken duels with machetes. I've seen REAL machete dueling and this is a joke. my condolences to his family,but Caribbean island culture is beyond miss represented in this short doc. find some real practitioners of tira machete or macheteria. not only will they not be drinking the whole time you're there,but they'll also show you some real sparring which looks a lot more violent and quick than this. at the very best,this all looks like ceremonial dancing.
perhaps he was drinking because he was dying and saw no reason to limit his indulgence...he may have had a painful disease seeing as how he passed before the movie came out. Besides, fighting drunk with a blade and not seriously injuring oneself instead perhaps causing a few cuts on your students...id say he's pretty good.
way to jump to conclusions You realize in african culture drinking is ritualistic. Specifically pouring alcohol on the floor, you know like pouring one out for your dead homies, is a direct part of African tradition and was taken from there. Haiti being partly an African derivative nation takes that part of the culture to heart. If you notice at one point after a session with the foreinger he pours some one his right and left then takes a sip, the foreigner then repeats the process. The drinking is done in small portions and is very much a part of the tradition. It makes sense when the pouring of alcohol on the floor is done for the dead and here they are learning to fight with blades. It could easily be done as respect to all those who died learning or died using the art. Again dont jump to conclusions.
Find a more well-rounded group of blk folks then. That sounds like those that brag about freedom from an oppressor but can't feed themselves but hold on to the glory of a war hundreds of years ago. These internet people don't rep the most of us like I'm sure the Haitian people are NOT like their lame ass greedy leaders.
Proud Seeker isn't that just what he said? his comment was basically. "the idiots in this video are nothing like actually Hatians, these are just drunken fools playing with knives"
ShaddySoldier He who? I was responding to the generalization of "most African Americans" statement. I'm in my 40's and have yet to meet all my family members, yet people say "most" AA you haven't meet most AA or heard our opinions it's as if diversity doesn't exist. Folks come online and not listening to real professors hear street or unqualified bias info and that's most. smh Do you know how many AA that don't identify with Africa at all? How many change their names to African names? Those who study W. African history and convert to African indigenous beliefs? How about over 10 thousand moving to Ghana? How many are afraid of Africa, claim to be native American? And the list keeps going but even in the questions it's diverse. That most shit is a foul.
Years ago while in college, me and many other African Americans considered our African brothers and sisters in Haiti to be some of the greatest blacks and humans to ever walk the face of the earth!
This is Ogun. That's the "spirit" who he says came to him. Ogun is the spirit of metal and wilderness. He lived in exile and carved out the jungle. My family maintained secret shrines to him for generations. My own life mirrored Ogun's story, and it served as my initiation. I now teach skills like this, and more, the skills I learned in my own "exile." I wrote a book "Backwoods Shamanism" talking about some of the spiritual practices of my family. Under another pen name, due to different subject matter, I wrote "Hatchie-Ryu Ninpo, an overview" telling my story and giving an outline of the things I teach.
@@Wastelandman7000 my father is half Cherokee (the part that stayed in SC, we have a story about that) and he taught me a little about fighting with a tomahawk. Its a important skill that is not taught to modern children
Improvise, Adapt ,Overcome ... This is the true essence of this legendary country.I remember seeing these demonstrations like this living as a kid back 2001 in Haiti.
While I was learning TaiKowndo (I know I spelt it wrong, I don't care). One of the first things taught was not to strike someone in the head while sparring. I became quite good at NOT doing this while just two years of training. This guy is a fucking "Master", and he struck his student while they were projecting each other's attacks. That's a Major fail.
If you train not to strike the head in a real scenario you wont attack the head, you will stick to what you practiced in the heat of the moment. Training without striking the head is not good for real life scenarios, instead head strikes should be done sparingly with lower power instead of avoided all together. It is very likely your teacher was worrying more about people getting hurt over being in an actual combat scenario where head strikes are necessary. Not a bad thing but its a tradeoff. I think a big reason that martial arts dont do well in mma is because everyone trains like this. Boxers, muai thai, bbj, etc all spar with gloves alone so they are used to being hit and hitting others at the right time conversely other traditional martial arts tend to spar less and take sparing less seriously since the chance of injury is higher in the other martial arts. This leads to a disconnect when fighting seriously as a traditional martial artist is not used to going at 100%, well that and they only spar with people from the same art/style as opposed to boxing etc. where the variety of strikes prepares one for a larger variety of opponents and fighting styles. TLDR; Train like its a real situation otherwise you wont be as prepared
reasly dutchmans Well that's a reasonable point to be made, something I didn't think about. Yet do you consider it a fail on the Master's fault to actually strike his student's face, when the sparring was obviously no contact, and they were projecting their attacks.
