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Kruu Villalobos research trip to Indonesia
The connection between striking and grappling is still alive
Kruu Muay Sangha Pedro Villalobos traveled to Indonesia again to continue his research into the ancient martial arts styles of South-East Asia. Kruu Villalobos is trying to connect all the ancient styles of the region in order to have a clear understanding of how warriors fought in the past. His main focus is to preserve the essence of these ancient martial arts as a human treasure.
His first stop was on the island of Java where the IPSI Indonesia association of Silat is located. There he meet the president of the International Silat Association Mr.TaTa and trained with a legendary fighter and teacher in the Cimande style Guru Pak Raffae. Continuing his journey Kruu Villalobos went to study with another great master of the Harimau Pasaman Bariguin Sakti style (ground fighting silat). Guru Edwards Lebe. Kruu Villalobos saw immediately that the ground fighting styles of Silat were directly related to the styles of Cambodian Bokator and Muay Thai Boran. Kruu then decided to fly to the island of Sumatra, the source of all the ground fighting styles in Indonesia.
When Kruu arrived to Sumatra he didn’t know where to go so he sat in meditation and one night saw a light in a specific spot on the map of Sumatra. When Kruu asked the native people about the area where he saw the light he was surprised to hear that that area was the Minangkabao region where legendary warriors had lived for hundreds of years. The Minangkabao warriors are still alive today and their styles of fighting have been keep secret for generations, passing their skills from father to son.
Without any address or definite place to go Kruu decided to follow the light of his meditation and jump on a bus to the Minangkabao region. A few hours later when everyone got out of the bus Kruu knew that he was at the right place. He walked out of the bus grabbing his bag and went to speak to a policeman. Amazingly this policeman knew of the whereabouts of a famous Silat teacher. A few minutes later another policeman came and took Kruu Villalobos on the back of his motorcycle to the market where he met the great master Guru Sofyan Nadar nicknamed Pak Haji for the first time. Guru Nadar is one of the most skillful masters of the ground styles in Indonesia and he has been part of the national demonstration team for many years traveling all around the world.
After a long talk Guru Nadar allowed Kruu Villalobos to study with him. The next day his training started at Singgalang mountain in the valley of Bukkitinggi. There Kruu Villalobos was taught the fearless skills of the ground fighting styles of Indonesia, not only the Harimau(tiger) and Cuchin(cat) style but also the Buayo(crocodile) style which has almost disappeared. It was a great opportunity to meet and to learn from Guru Nadar.
All the these ground fighting skills have now been incorporated into the Muay Sangha style.
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