Garrote Larense ?

[lklawson]

The reason I got into this forum is the curiosity that some of you have in our martial art, I think that this curiosity is dued to the articles and classes done by "Maestro" Bruno Cruichi, I thank him for that, but there are some things that you do not know, and I would like to talk you about.

[...]

Did he ever sparred with sticks?, never, that is why he is telling to his "pupils" in America that Garrote Larense training consist mostly in drills, it is a lie, 90% of Garrote training is free sparring.

[...]

we learn in the web that he was presenting himself as a Garrote Master outside Venezuela,

In the interests of trying to inform myself better, and on the (often accurate) theory that I do not have all the information which I should, I did some google searches on "maestro bruno cruichi" (no hits) and on "maestro cruichi" (again no hits which lead to Mr. Bruno Cruichi). A bit more searching and I did find an article he wrote for FMA Digest:

http://www.fmadigest.com/Issues/past_issues/vol3/Vol3_No4.pdf

In this 2006 article, he states his instructor/lineage:

"When I first discovered Garrote, it was through a very humble publication by the man who was to revive Garrote in Venezuela. I am referring to Eduardo Sanoja, a Martial artist, who discovered a whole new world when he was allowed to train and learn from on of the old Masters, Maestro Mercedes Perez."

​

He states his training/certification within Garrote:

"I am not a Master, far from it; I consider myself a student and a Researcher, hence my constant hunger and thirst to unveil new methods and new Masters both in Filipino martial arts and in Garrote."

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He even talks about the role of sparring in Garrote:

"Garrote like the old Filipino systems is not drill oriented, but rather sparring oriented. A system called lineas "lines" is used to teach possible combinations, you can also see this in Fencing. So when the beginner starts playing he has some sets to fall back on."

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Mr. Girotto, I'm not sure what's going on here. Either Mr. Cruichi has dramatically changed his tune since I met him and since he penned this article, or there has been some tragic misunderstanding, or some other reason exist for the apparent differences between what I am hearing from you and what I have heard elsewhere.

Please do not take this as an attack or a challenge (I don't care enough about Garrote to challenge anybody over it to be rudely blunt). But there is conflicting information being presented and that's not good for anybody, and particularly not for the Garrote revival movement, still in its infancy in the U.S.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Ken Pfrenger]

I think some of these posts are ancient!

Regardless I trained for a weekend with Bruno, he is a great guy and a good teacher. he did not show alot of material but went pretty in depth with what he did show. I have been practicing the material for a few years now and greatly look forward to seeing him again in May when he will be teaching GL at ISMAC in Detroit.

 

[arnisador]

Thanks for sharing! You're lucky to have access to this art.

 

[lklawson]

I think some of these posts are ancient!

Yup. The thread got a bump somewhere along the line here recently.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Dwight McLemore]

Girotto. I too had the opportunity to train with Mr. Cruichi and can attest to the validity of Kirk and Ken's comments. In fact Mr. Cruichi attended my Bowie classes as well and I found him to be a totally empty cup willing to recieve new instruction without any presence of ego. Surly the man I met does not reflect the picture painted in your post. I found him to be a gifted instructor with wisdon and understanding of many, many martial arts. Respectively, I would prefer that you leave the politics of your beautiful country on the shelf and instead give us the benefit of your wisdom and years of martial experience. I am very interested in Garrote Larense and feel that it has so very much to benefit those of us who are so far away.

All My Best
Dwight

(yep, realize this is an old post but maybe this needs to be said.