African Historical Martial Arts: Preservation & Reconstruction. With Adam "Mansa" Myrie (HAMA)

[@HaldirMark]

Thank you so much for having Mansa Myrie on, and please, at your convenience both, have him on again. I love your regular video style, of course, but this was a real breath of fresh air as an African in this community. Y'all's conversation was edifying and inspiring.

[@randysavage1]

That dude Terry Shepart dude played with a bunch of martial arts including African stick fighting, he would cool to have on.

[@theonlymegumegu]

more voting for continued collabs!

[@borjaslamic]

You have my vote as well. Also a suggestion for an early video would be a glosarry, because they threw out many terms i'm hearing for the first time

[@jackrice2770]

Matt Easton is a true academic, and while an expert in European martial arts, he brings his viewers comparisons with martial arts around the world. The fact is that martial arts are universally human, every culture had to fight to protect itself or to expand its influence. Thank you, Mr. Easton! I want to keep learning about my world as long as I'm in it.

[@JaemanEdwards]

The Maori are on all top ten greatest warrior cultures lists alongside the Spartan and Samurai for a reason. The haka was no idle threat. Living on an isolated island, Maori had no range weapons. No bow and arrow. Not even throwing spears (slings only). So all fighting was hand to hand with predominantly bludgeoning and slashing weapons made of greenstone, hardwood, volcanic rock, or whalebone. No shields. No armour. Up close and personal. Brutal as fk. All warriors were trained from childhood in the art of warfare and the maori martial art mau rakau. They were extremely athletic and disciplined warriors. Intertribal warfare was just a part of life. When the firearm arrived this warlike culture took to it like a duck ymto water. The Maori fought a brutal 30 year war with the British in the mid 1800s. The colonialists had much admiration for the military nous of the Maori. They knew how to fight using asymmetrical warfare tactics. And they understood their land. The introduction of gunpowder sparked old Intertribal conflicts igniting into the Musket Wars between warring tribes that killed 40 thousand Maori. When the New Zealand Wars broke out against the British Empire, the Maori were already battle hardened and battle tested. Masters at ambush, guerilla, seige, psychological, and close quarters combat, they proved formidable opponents. Just as they did a century later against the Nazi, who referred to them as "The Scalphunters" for their propensity to fix bayonets and trench raid, finishing the enemy off with knives, tomahawks, and even traditional weapons. See Maori Battalion. Always heavily outnumbered and outgunned, the Maori used knowledge of the terrain, ingenuity, and trench warfare to neutralise the firepower discreprancies. This was 50 years before the famous trenches of WWI. Multi levelled zig zag trenches with hidden firing pits, tunnels, and bomb proof bunkers. They had flax covering their firing pits that the musket balls would just bounce off. With shotguns traded for from american sealers and traditional bludgeoning and slashing weapons in their arsenal. Once the Maori could fool the enemy into close quarters combat.. It was over.

[@bencoomer2000]

Yeah. Getting beyond the "mine is BESTEST!" mindset is important for martial arts to survive and grow.

[@dougsinthailand7176]

Impressive. Adam is obviously informed and inspired by HEMA and approaches Africa with the same careful and scientific mindset. There are plenty of other possible ways of treating the martial arts of Africa, none of them “wrong” per se, but this is the most historically respectful approach. Full marks, lads!

[@bobrobinson1576]

I don't think you could have picked anyone better for this interview. Adam is very obviously intelligent and highly knowledgeable. Nice one.

[@infinidragon]

Matt saying "real life Soulcalibur" was not on my life's bingo card, but I absolutely love that it happened. 😆 Thanks very much for this! African martial arts definitely need more of a spotlight.

[@robinmarks4771]

Absolutely LOVE this video. I discovered HAMA shortly after I started my HEMA journey years ago due to my interest in African arms and armor, and I've been delighting in watching its development and refinement the past few years. Seeing these two communities of passionate nerds come together makes my day.

[@VSX0021OmegaGundam]

Great interview; learned a lot

[@justinmccready9885]

Thanks for posting this conversation, Matt! Also Da'Mon is a fantastic resource and a solid dude. I was happy to hear him mentioned for his work in HAMA.

[@KlausBeckEwerhardy]

A mapping of different African styles according to geography and ethnicity would be interesting. Perhaps as a kind of series of videos.

[@brittakriep2938]

I am Brittas boyfriend. Reading books of Osprey Military ( for example Victorias enemies, african warrior people, Zulu and Sudan wars) and visiting a large ethnical Museum in Stuttgart/Germany helped me a Lot in this context.

[@TheCCBoi]

Great interview, I would love to see more about HAMAA - especially Benin Empire sword fighting.

[@havokmusicinc]

I have always been fascinated by the wrestling tradition of the Seereer people of Senegal - hope to see more HAMA coverage of the amazing martial diversity across Africa in the future

[@Jaws972011]

damn i DEFINATELY want more of this!

[@markmorgan4837]

More with Adam please

[@btrenninger1]

Very interesting. Definitely do more. Need to do HEMA/HAMA club cross-overs. Lots of opportunity for unique interactions there.

[@btrenninger1]

A clear opportunity to use Matt's bayonet simulators.

[@nkante]

@@btrenninger1 I have wanted to break out my Zulu kit and fight some bayonets for a while

[@andieslandies]

This was a fantastic video! Thanks so much for making it, for making me aware of HAMA, and for introducing us to Adam; it was an informative pleasure to watch an erudite and collaborative conversation between specialists in parallel, intersecting fields. I particularly appreciated a few themes that you both touched on: the importance of recognising and engaging with living and/or continuous traditions, the limitations of living in the Anglosphere (and, by extension, a linguistic Euroshpere), and the influences these factors exert on our perception of context. I would love to see more videos in this vein, and more exploration of the breadth and depth that living traditions and non-English-speaking sources can bring to our understanding of weapons and the martial arts associated with them. Love your work!

[@adamriles327]

Just freaking out standing...this channel continues to impress😅. Hats off to you Matt. Way to bridge the gap

[@efroeli]

Love this! Fantastic work, great guest

[@b.h.abbott-motley2427]

Thank you for doing this video. All of it's fascinating, but I'm especially interested in the shield/buckler plus parrying stick shown in some of the clips. I've long been fascinated by such defensive implements, such as from the Dinka culture, as they seem very effective. Covering the hand makes it safe to take full advantage of the stick's length for parrying. I'd love to know more about them & how they were & are used.

[@nkante]

I am assuming you are referring to the nguni stick fighters of Southern Africa. Although there are small differences between the different ethnic groups, such as the Xhosa and the Zulu, basically it works exactly how you described. For the Zulu people, the blocking stick is held in the same hand as the small shield. The majority of defense is done with he stick and the shield is there to protect the hand. Interestingly the shield is not held by the shaft that runs down the middle. That shaft is only there to support the rawhide. The shield is actually held by a rawhide handle built into it's construction.

[@crazypetec-130fe7]

About 15 years ago, I discovered the same thing. I was practicing SCA rapier fencing and instead of choosing between buckler or scabbard, it occurred to me that I could use both in my off hand. It turned out to be a very effective defensive technique.

[@damoncunningham5153]

I fight SCA heavy with a short spear and small nguni shaped shield in my off hand

[@mmmcookies2]

This was amazing! I absolutely love the idea of digging deeper into African martial arts and collaborating with experts like Adam in the future. More like this, please

[@JCOwens-zq6fd]

Ideally it would be nice if every nations historical martial arts systems could be revived. In the end the more such happens the more it will help the world take the work of reconstructing these systems more seriously.

[@KrisV385]

This is a great introduction and I see a fruitful future for more interaction! Look forward to that!!

[@Hour_of_the_Owl]

I would love to learn more about the interaction between different cultures (between the continents as well as within Africa) with regard to the evolution of weapons and fighting styles in Africa... and as always, reference to primary historical sources is great

[@kyletenorio8541]

Love to see more with Mansa! This was really great talk and super informative. Love Adams understanding and method for exploring these African martial arts and sharing what he's learned. Always love people who understand that martial arts and culture influence each other and also that things can develop without such influence and celebrating all cultures arts.

[@seadawg93]

This is so cool! We need more of this, I’ve heard about a couple things, but I had no idea there was so much information, and so much serious research and training. I love it!

[@LionClanChief]

As a follower of HAMAA, I say yes! We definitely want more! 😁 I have a collection of weapons, shields and armor. I'd love to see explored, and explained more indepth.

[@juliahenriques210]

Please, bring this guy in again. Such a wealth of knowledge waiting to be drawn from.

[@HaldirMark]

PLEASE PLEASE

[@alanretamozo]

This is incredible, thank you!

[@Toxoplasma13]

Looking forwards to some "battles of all nations" events as this picks up and liases with European, Persian styles, etc. Could be a ton of fun!

[@disky01]

North African/Sahel martial arts are the most fascinating to me because they are so infrequently discussed, and as a nerd, I really love to include them in my TTRPGs. So for me, this was an absolutely wonderul discussion. Thanks so much to you both!

[@clovergroom4104]

Much obliged for your time and knowledge Mansa. Hope to see and hear from you again.

[@douglasaccat]

Very cool and definitely looking forward to more.

[@Alopex1]

Matt does a great job as an interviewer!

[@rayrice3451]

I absolutely love this. The more of these talks, the better

[@MarcusVance]

Perfect collaboration

[@jacquelineolivera6370]

My son and I thoroughly enjoyed your dialogue with Mansa about HAMA. It was very informative and interesting. We look forward to more!

[@arielquelme]

I love to see African sword fighting style. Hope Mansa My rise could present to us the practice

[@LarryGarfieldCrell]

I hope you'll go through the list of names Adam rattled off and invite them all to appear in later episodes, talking about other regions in Africa. There's so much material there, and I am here for it!

[@johnthomas7517]

Matt, this was fascinating, I love the opportunity to learn more and Mr. Myrie provided an excellent talk. Thank you!

[@StoneCBears]

Great discussion and introduction to HAMA.

[@krzysztofmathews738]

This is a great dialogue. I'm very glad to be learning about an aspect of history that I had known very little about. Thank you and your excellent guest for this video!

[@interdictr3657]

Interesting! Glad theres people doing this

[@keving5300]

Frank Perrin and D'Mon Stith would be great guests, too.

[@yumazster]

More of this please. Brilliant guest, brilliant subject. Bravo!

[@bencoomer2000]

Awesome. I follow Damon and seeing more stuff from Africa is great.

[@theromanorder]

15:20 north Africa and persa use same weppons but persians normal fight heavy armor doing "less cycles" direct choping well Africans fight lighter armor and do more cyrcles and "drawing" 18:00 note on house techniques. 18:40 some swords 22:48 his special sparing sword for big hands and gloves, 23:30 a peice of African armor (and central asia...)very good with a shamshear 24:44 leather/lamal armor 26:19 some experts They alsi talk about different Marshall arts fighting together And how most groups use the same gear like fencing masks because they work

[@rogerlacaille3148]

This was so fascinating..yes please, more collaborations between the two of you 😊

[@ozymandias7493]

I would love to watch a comprehensive discussion of the 3rd crusade. In regards to the fighting styles and the evolution of armour. I really enjoyed this video and hope to see more on the subjects. Thank you both for giving us a very over looked subject matter.

[@thezieg]

Outstanding conversation!

[@Zayphar]

What else can I say but 'you learn something new every day'. Well done Easton.

[@user-eq8ww1gr6v]

More, please! More HAMA and Mansa collaboration would be appreciated. Lazering in on your expertise is amazing, but the occassional collaborations and exposure to the wider world of martial arts and history helps both help set HEMA-related art/history into the broader context of the wider world, while at the same time builds bridges and illuminates the the human through-lines that tie us together.

[@Blindy_Sama]

I love learning about history of and when I can't practice in different martial arts from around the world. My actual hands-on experience is limited in predominantly Asian martial arts and the Americanized versions of those martial arts. I also love collecting and playing with weapons when I have a chance. Having a chance to play with African weapons in learning more about African martial arts would be really cool. Also, the more knowledge is shared the less likely an art is to die or the very least we can maintain the history of that style or martial art respectively.

[@batteredwarrior]

What a fascinating discussion! I would love to see more from Adam on the channel in the future.

[@bjmccann1]

Wow! Thanks for the introduction to HAMA.

[@IcyPheonix3]

Fantastic, this was a really interesting conversation.

[@TheJaegerfeld]

Very good. I really like how you are connecting people all over the world. African history and martial arts is a very big field and thousands of years to explore. Thank you, Matt and Adam

[@kveitehitmaker6316]

This is so cool! Helping each other out and offering a free flow of information between different groups all wanting the same, which is the truth about their arts.

[@felipeborrero9858]

Awesome video! I'd love to see/hear more about African armor, particularly sub-saharan!

[@garyw.feather2750]

Fascinating subject. So much I don't know about the various African martial arts.

[@davidwhiteley3879]

Wow - fascinating and engaging! Many thanks.

[@tgmickey513]

Brilliant! More calabs would be awesome you guys! So glad to find a new channel to get lost in as well!

[@stormiewutzke4190]

I loved this type of thing. It would be awesome to have a long form discussion about how different cultures interact.

[@M-elephant7777]

The more of this stuff and more of him (or D'amon Smith) the better, this was great!

[@Tridona]

More please, this was so fascinating!

[@Kaiyanwang82]

This is truly appreciated.

[@paff0A]

Please do more of these, HAMA is awesome!

[@Intranetusa]

Interesting video on a relatively unexplored topic and a great collaboration!

[@TheRickykhan]

Great interview, looking forward to more collaboration with Adam.

[@HarkiratSinghD]

on point so was your guest, i will be saving excerpts from this

[@DGFTardin]

Your collabs are highly apreciated and I hope to see more

[@Vaedran]

Very interesting! Looking forward to more collaboration.

[@jamesy52]

This is a fantastic exchange!

[@NecromancerNightmare]

Oh man, I would love a podcast with you two. Amazing, didn't want it to end!

[@PorcoWest]

This was a truly wonderful discussion and great to hear a little about a subject in which i know absolutly nothing keep up the good work sir.

[@finlayrobertson1355]

Fantastic conversation I would love to hear more

[@YakThaWiseman72]

Very good interview

[@SonsOfLorgar]

This is absolutely awesome❤

[@Kargoneth]

Very interesting discussion, gentlemen.

[@trikepilot101]

Yes please, more of this. I am from Ottawa and didn't know about Exotic Sword Emporium until today!

[@jessecunningham9924]

I love martial arts of all kinds and I was eating every moment of this up. Please have him back on! My neighbors probably thought I was I having a good time because of all my satisfied groans upon seeing each weapon and armor Mansa Myrie showed. I’ll have to check out his channel too.

[@richarddelotto2375]

Amazing... thanks to you both!

[@megahamartolos6638]

Mr Myrie is a brilliant representative for HAMA. May his efforts yield great fruit.

[@Evker0]

One of the best videos yet

[@Greywacke838]

Please more of this! I find it fascinating, particularly the movement styles. I feel like there are a lot of interesting comparisons between African and Southern Asian and Pacific fighting styles. In specifically, watch the footage of South African fighting compared to something closer to me like New Zealand Māori Taiaha fighting.

[@drewjohnston4309]

I don't know about a specific topic, but I definitely want to see another more on this topic. I normally find these types of presentations with guest speakers to be very dry and boring. But this was fascinating, and would love to learn more about the history of African martial Arts as well as the state of modern martial arts in Africa. Maybe a stream where you two catalog different martial arts. Which styles are popular in what regions and how do they compare or contrast to other martial arts in the region and the continent more broadly.

[@Edenmm]

I loved this so much 20 minutes in and I feel like it just started time just flew away😂. Very enjoyable I hope more people get into this subject.

[@bohlalemokoena8492]

As a South African mixed martial artist, I love the hell out of this video ❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@squatch2461]

Fantastic video. Please keep doing videos comparing, exploring, contrasting various martial arts from other than Europe.

[@nickboughton6428]

This was fascinating, would love to see more discussions with Adam.

[@antewaso8876]

fascinating! thank you so much for this!

[@TorontoHistoricalCombata-po7hx]

We have had the pleasure of having Adam come and fence with us on regular basis! We are Soul Calibur in real life!

[@chemicaldruid4591]

i've always wondered why there was no equivalent to HEMA for africa, i'm glad this is coming together, and that members of the HEMA community such as yourself help shed some light onto this. 👍

[@miracleyang3048]

Because Africa isn't a real continent, I mean it literally is but it doesn't have a shared history and culture/ race like Europe, Africa is so large and diverse that most of those so called HAMA are more like middle eastern and way closer to Turkish and European Historical martial art than to African

[@bobwilliam2634]

I think you have it backwards... Africa is a real continent. Continents are just really big and are not cultural monoliths. Africa is big and diverse. Asia is big and diverse, so is north and south America. Only Australia and Europe are small. And some would argue that Europe should be looked at as a sub continent like India apart of Eurasia rather then its own separate continent but this is something people have really strong opinions about.

[@chemicaldruid4591]

​@@bobwilliam2634 I just said i'm happy a sport exists, what the f are you taking about mate?

[@bobwilliam2634]

@chemicaldruid4591 Opps, I was replying to miracleyang3048 who said Africa wasn't a real continent. Hit the wrong reply button, sry bout that

[@LionClanChief]

​@@miracleyang3048​He literally mention HAMA covers different regions and cultures of the continent like the Sahel, South Africa, Ethiopia as well as Sudan, Nigeria and Chad along with many others.

[@davesky538]

Thank you so much! ❤

[@KlausBeckEwerhardy]

Really, really liked this vid. Very interesting to get another look in into HAMA here. And I will watch certainly more content like this.

[@thornescapes7707]

From a historical point of view, it's so important to have all of these things documented before the information gets lost in the modern era. It's fantastic that they are preserving these traditions and documenting them. Fantastic.

[@chimbonda99]

Oooo yeah more deep dive pls, fantastic!

[@Evan-rj9xy]

I'd love to see more!

[@jonathanlovelace521]

This was great. I'd love to see further collaboration going deeper into specifics and learn about the context of weapons and fighting styles.

[@Armoure10]

More of this please 🙂

[@mistahanansi2264]

I went into this thinking "Ugh, this is gonna be a long one... hope I can stay awake for it." Once it was over, I was all "Is it over already!? But I haven't learned all there is to know yet!!"

[@jonathansmith9291]

I would absolutely subscribe to this podcast