Publisher Steven K. Dowd Contributing Writers Edessa Ramos Bee Landreum Will Price Stephen Lamade and Wes Tasker Carl Atienza Cris Suboreau Full Circle Martial Arts Johan Skålberg Ekrem Fuldagli Jay deLeon Kurtis Goodwin Reynaldo S. Galang Joe Huncar Contents From the Publishers Desk Blade Master Bram Frank The LADRA Brothers… A long journey home Atienza Kali Zach Whitson Silat Combat Academy Philippine Blade Work Arjumano, Philippines H.A.N.D.S. DeCuerdas-Diestro Fighting Systems Espada y Daga Techniques - SME-PTK Sonny Umpad - Visayan Corto Kadena What MantasDaga is… Carlito Bonjoc Mata Sa Bagyo Kali Sikaran - Blades and Empty Hands BladeMasters of the FMA in the U.S. Tulisan “Knife Fighting Art” Filipino Martial Arts Digest is published and distributed by: FMAdigest 1297 Eider Circle Fallon, Nevada 89406 Visit us on the World Wide Web: www.fmadigest.com The FMAdigest is published quarterly. Each issue features practitioners of martial arts and other internal arts of the Philippines. Other features include historical, theoretical and technical articles; reflections, Filipino martial arts, healing arts and other related subjects. The ideas and opinions expressed in this digest are those of the authors or instructors being interviewed and are not necessarily the views of the publisher or editor. We solicit comments and/or suggestions. Articles are also welcome. The authors and publisher of this digest are not responsible for any injury, which may result from following the instructions contained in the digest. Before embarking on any of the physical activates described in the digest, the reader should consult his or her physician for advice regarding their individual suitability for performing such activity. From the Publishers Desk Kumusta This Special Edition brings many of the Filipino martial arts practitioners out to talk about how the Daga (knife) is used or some of the philosophy that is either their own or used in the system that they are a practitioner of. Bram Frank, the Ladra Brothers, the Atienza Brothers, Zach Whitson, all top instructors in handling the knife. The Silat Mubai Australian Training Group brings Filipino knife fighting to Australia. Stephen Lamade and Wes Tasker have been doing and continue to do seminars on the aspects of San Miguel Eskrima and Pekiti Tirsia Kali in Espada y Daga techniques. They have a video coming out soon and it is highly recommended to get a copy. They show the differences between the two styles in handling the daga. Guro Jojo S. Latorre, Guro Kurtis Goodwin, and Joe Huncar, tell about their aspects of the daga. And Grandmaster Arthur Gonzalez of DeCuerdas-Diestro Fighting Systems and Carlito Bonjoc Jr. of Mata sa Bagyo are two practitioners that clearly are no nonsense practitioners of the blade. And Johan Skålberg shares a little about the development of Kali-Sikaran and the blade. At the time of this Special Edition being published it is understood that Sonny Umpad is in the Hospital, with some serious complications, (it is hoped that he recovers and can spend more time practicing what he loves). Known as an excellent daga practitioner, the FMAdigest was very lucky to obtain from a gentleman who is in Switzerland, an interview he had with Sonny Umpad. Sonny Umpad talks a little about the art of the blade, but also about himself and his art Visayan Corto Kadena. The FMAdigest wants to thank all the practitioners that contributed to this Special Edition. Maraming Salamat Po Blade Master Bram Frank Smooth is Fast By Edessa Ramos An old Chinese proverb says: when the student is ready the teacher appears. Bram Frank is a first generation personal student of the Professor. The first time he saw Professor and Grandmaster Remy A. Presas, he said to himself, this was a martial arts genius, the true “master” of what he did. The day he met his teacher, he knew immediately that this was what he wanted to learn and the man he wanted to learn from. He had found his muse, his master, his mentor. Prof. Remy was the one who told him to learn slowly by working hard until the art was really his, to be patient, to understand how important it is to be smooth in order to be fast, and soft in order to be strong. This master showed him that if one trained slowly, one could see, understand and master the why’s of the concepts. Modern Arnis and Professor Remy Amador Presas showed Bram how to think conceptually: “You are already there. It is all the same! You must understand and feel the flow.” (Professor Presas). And Bram said to himself, “Gee, that’s how I thought martial arts and fighting should be.” Thus began his odyssey. Bram attributes his conceptual method of teaching to Professor Remy. “Bram...do you see the differences? Yes? Good... Can you now see it’s all the same? It’s the same difference!” Remy’s way of teaching demanded that you think, that you actually use your mind, that you see the connections. He used to say that the key was translation: that Modern Arnis allowed one to translate between tool and empty hand. To him it was important to understand the art at a functional level. Remy encouraged Bram to teach from day #1, telling him to “go teach what I taught you, for in teaching you will learn fastest, and find out what you really know, and know what you really need to learn.” Hence Bram does not teach in linear fashion. He teaches conceptually, that is, he teaches others to learn by teaching. At that time, Bram realized that Remy was giving him something to be proud of and to build on, to live life through understanding. Remy was teaching him about life, not fighting. Fighting and Arnis are just ways to understand how to deal with any situation: to go with the flow. The desire to understand steel was a fervor that kept growing in him. It shows in his knife designs, in his art. Bram visualizes Filipino martial arts motions into Celtic-type designs, which frequently become tattoo flash. Just as he grew conceptually, and learned to see motion visually, he also learned a different kind of perspective on life, and a bit more about patience with things as they happen. Bram’s training under Professor Remy included the origins of Arnis. The soul of Arnis was defense, based on the use of the bladed weapon. It was protection for the weak against the oppressors. It was an art founded on a simple way of transferring knowledge, a blade art that is Philippine in origin, with many aspects derived from the myriads of multi-ethnicity of the Philippine Islands. Within Arnis is a fully functional art of cutting. The names of Arnis changed with region to region, but the soul of Arnis - that act of defending one’s personal freedom - pulsed unchanged. Remy clarified to him that there are hundreds of styles of Arnis but all use the same principles and utilize the same concepts of motion under their personal labels. Inspired by his professor, Bram has been in constant search since then of the origins of Arnis. Professor Remy introduced him to the “Jungle bolo”. This bolo has a narrow tip, a piercing point not made useful in agriculture but for thrusting, to tip rip. It is a fast blade used to fight other humans. He bequeathed to Bram his jungle bolos, inherited from his uncle and grandfather. Each was hand made, each was crafted to fit the person so that rotation of the blade did not cut one’s own arms. (Now the old ways of measuring a “stick” made real sense. One didn’t measure a stick; one measured a blade for safety). Whereas all of Bram’s sword and armour research was on cultures long gone, with the jungle bolo came blade usage that was more recent and made for real combat. These two old “Jungle bolos” had buffalo horn handles, very light and fast and able to cut deeply. They were magnificent, with very fine thrusting tips. Quite recently, out of respect for Remy, for Bram’s teaching, and for the continuity of the Presas art of the bolo, the Presas Family Bolo was replicated by Ed Schempp, an expert blade craftsman and father of Mosaic Damascus. Ed Schempp’s replica was made of two layers of longitudinal Mosaic Damascus over a 60RC core steel. Schempp said it was the finest tactical fighter he has ever made, and that with great power comes great responsibility. Schempp’s gift served as a statement that Bram was one who knew the Art of the Bolo and treated it with great respect. It has been said that the stick transfers to the blade, but Bram says that this is not completely true, especially with such techniques as blocking and disarms. One cannot transfer Stick to Blade directly. One cannot translate from impact tool to cutting tool directly. The purpose is different. The orientation is different. No force is needed to cut, whereas impact is affected by strength or amount of force. The order of progression for default is blade, firearm, stick, and then empty hand. The blade is regarded as the highest art of self-defense. With a blade, there is little or no room for error. If one can do something with or against a blade, it works for the others. If it works with using a firearm, it will work against a stick or empty hand. But not necessarily against a blade. And so it goes on down the pyramid of default. You can grab a firearm.