Albo Kali Silat Videos

[KaliGman]

Attached are some links to YouTube videos. Please note that there are many more videos over on the Albo Kali Silat website: www.albokalisilat.org.

Many people who dwell in very urban environments find it difficult or illegal to carry a large knife. This video demonstrates the use of a very small folding knife (the Spyderco Lava with a 1 7/8 inch blade) suitable for carry in many areas:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1W7-d_Qxw4

These two videos show some of the ways to use various improvised weapons (flashlights, a magazine, a jacket, a belt, etc.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hq_GHzkf6Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4R8eGhUe8

[arnisador]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1W7-d_Qxw4


Heavy use of the live hand! Aspects of it remind me of the Bram Frank Gunting knife for the first part, and the Modern Arnis de kadena drill for the second part.

[KaliGman]

In close quarters, the live hand is very much emphasized in Albo Kali Silat. It must be well trained in order to deflect and destroy incoming attacks or you may not live long enough in a close quarters environment to use your weapon to end the threat posed by the opponent by initiating a terminal technique of you own. Also, all of the techniques need to work in a stick, knife, empty hand or firearms environment. If the opponent has a handgun, the muzzle of that weapon has to be kept out of line with your body. Albo Kali Silat doctrine is that there should be very few or no changes necessary to defend against empty hand or weapons. In a real fight, the belief is you need to be able to react instantly, and you often do not have time to go, "Since he is using a knife I can do Drill 2A, C, and D, but not Drill 2B, 2E, and 3A through F, since they only work against stick without me getting cut pretty badly." By the time this kind of thing happens, you have often already been defeated, or you simply reacted with one of the stick specific drills and are now bleeding pretty badly.

This is not a criticism of other systems or other fighters. I am sure that there are many who can modify things on the fly, as everyone is different. For example, common wisdom says that, in a real life violent confrontation, people lose fine motor skills and experience tunnel vision. Since I have been in various situations in law enforcement where bad things were happening, including when people were trying to kill me, I know that I don't lose fine motor skills under combat stress, that I don't experience tunnel vision, but I do experience time dilation. Others experience the loss of fine motor skills, including many of my students. In general, I have found that, for real life confrontations simple is often best, especially since everyone can use the simple stuff. As individuals progress along their own martial paths, they will determine what else they can and cannot use. I put stress on my students through hard sparring and see how they react, then emphasize what I think they can use now, as well as what they can use in the near future. Based on what I have seen in real life, what I have trained in over the course of several years, and how I know that I react, the Albo Kali Silat principle of defeating the person, not the weapon (i.e. utilizing defenses, counters, etc. that work regardless of the weaponry employed by the person), is very valid. Of course, some variation in technique is probably unavoidable, but the goal is to have a response set that the body automatically engages and which will work regardless of what you are facing.

As for similarities to Guro Bram Frank's Gunting or CSSDSC System, I am not surprised. Apohan Tuhan Albo and Guro Frank often conversed, as Apohan Tuhan Albo, from the first time that he saw footage of Guro Frank working the Gunting, noticed similarities with the Albo family art. In fact, Apohan Tuhan Albo was impressed enough that both he and I bought several Gunting knives (I have one in my right pocket as I type this) and he agreed to be an "unofficial" representative for Guro Frank in Texas. There are many differences in the use of knives in the systems, but there are similarities too, especially in the use of a knife while closed. Apohan Tuhan Albo acknowledged that Guro Bram Frank had done some outstanding work, especially in the development of a written curriculum, and encouraged his students to review Guro Bram Frank's work. We sometimes did drills that were from Guro Bram's curriculum, and Apohan Tuhan Albo would always tell us that he had gotten this drill "from Bram" and that it illustrated so-and-so concept in the family art.

[Shaun]

Good techniques.Thanks.

[Shaun]

Just saw some great videos of GM Albo on you tube.They are easy to find.Have a look,you will not be disappointed.
One of my favorites was GM Albo doing some Silat empty hand techniques.

[WuLord187]

Painful!!!!!!!!!

[KaliGman]

Just saw some great videos of GM Albo on you tube.They are easy to find.Have a look,you will not be disappointed.
One of my favorites was GM Albo doing some Silat empty hand techniques.

I'm glad you enjoyed the videos, Shaun. Apohan Tuhan Albo had great skill and was sometimes a bit of a showman on film and in demonstrations. I remember when we were doing some balisong work one day and he decided to film a bit. He did a flashy abanico double strike with the handles (one hit to either of my temples as the knife rotated in his hand) which transitioned into an opening of the blade into forward grip as the second temple strike occurred, then he did a couple of aerials. When I raised an eyebrow, he laughed and said the aerials were of course, pure show and useless in combat, but he was having fun. You will see some of this in some of the videos he has posted, especially in the double sword techniques. There is a lot of play and show there, but there are some very good, combat effective techniques too. There was a lot of "serious" stuff that he and I either would never film or would use only as a reference for ourselves because we just did not want it out there for any of the Internet "script kiddies" to try to rip off or otherwise misuse. I have film of him doing some interesting double baston work and there is film of me doing the eight dances.

I have a few minutes of film that we did together that I will have to post sometime. We went from stick to knife to empty hand to low level silat. It was not our best flow, as he had a hernia at the time and I had a torn left shoulder and we were hurting a bit. We knew that I was leaving Texas soon, though, and it was the last opportunity we were going to have to film for awhile, so we did it. Little did we know that he would die prior to us having the opportunity to film together again.

I believe that I have most of the videos he posted on Youtube, Yahoo video and other sites (he really didn't post that much). I will try to get some of those videos on the Albo Kali Silat website. I need to get the permission of those students depicted on the video with him, to ensure that they don't mind me posting them on the site. I haven't been able to contact them yet. There were a lot of photographs and some other videos that we did together that have never been posted and which he had. I hope his wife has them, but he put a lot of stuff on his laptop and it crashed a time or two.

[Shaun]

It would be great to see some videos of you and GM Albo and more of GM albo in general.

Yes,I know the feeling.You always wish you had done more videos.

[Nakiko]

Apohan Tuhan Albo had great skill and was sometimes a bit of a showman on film and in demonstrations.

I sparred and "trained"(read got together to test techniques on each other) with Hastings over the years. Being classmates we had a number of years "playing with different styles" heck, he even worked for my father for some years... anyway, he was always known as a showboat while demonstrating or sparring, BUT that was to the untrained eye. By knowing his personality and teaching/learning style you could see that some of the "showboat" stuff was actually to hide/disguise a technique that he was using or experimenting with, to gauge the opponent and his reactions, or to distract or "lead" his opponent. Although there was some "pure fantasy" stuff thrown in to liven things up, a lot of the so called showboat stuff was actually there for a reason. Although we did not agree on all techniques, we sure learned a lot from each other and about ourselves in the mean time... He will surely be missed.

Aloha,
Nakiko

[KaliGman]

I sparred and "trained"(read got together to test techniques on each other) with Hastings over the years. Being classmates we had a number of years "playing with different styles" heck, he even worked for my father for some years... anyway, he was always known as a showboat while demonstrating or sparring, BUT that was to the untrained eye. By knowing his personality and teaching/learning style you could see that some of the "showboat" stuff was actually to hide/disguise a technique that he was using or experimenting with, to gauge the opponent and his reactions, or to distract or "lead" his opponent. Although there was some "pure fantasy" stuff thrown in to liven things up, a lot of the so called showboat stuff was actually there for a reason. Although we did not agree on all techniques, we sure learned a lot from each other and about ourselves in the mean time... He will surely be missed.

Aloha,
Nakiko

Hello Nakiko,

I know what you mean about some showy things being practical in reality. Once you know the concepts and basic body mechanics, a lot of stuff works that you once thought was a bit "out there." Working with him showed me a lot of things that I previously thought would not work. Now I've made some of them work, real world, real time, on the street. He did often experiment, and he did do some very showy stuff in demonstrations, especially when he put on demonstrations for kids. Say hello to his mother for me next time you see her. Take care out there on the Big Island.