Heading over to East Africa again. This time we are looking at the island of Madagascar to see what the Malagasy community has to offer. Here they have an interesting style of martial arts called Moringue in which the style has a mix of boxing and kickboxing technique not unlike the ones seen in Asia.
Martial Art: Moraingy/Moringue (Malagasy/French)
Style: Striking (boxing/Kickboxing)
Country: Madagascar (East Africa)
Origin: 15th-17th century of Maroseranana dynasty of the Sakalava Kingdom
History: A barefisted striking style of martial arts that is believed to originate in Madagascar. This style has since spread to other African island nations across the Indian ocean like the Reunion, Mayotte, Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius. Historically this style was only practiced by young unmarried men around the ages of 10-35 in order to compete for a bride.
Culture: Rules can vary upon region. The winner depends on the referee announcing the victor on a subjective or objective manner. Because of this knockouts or a counted number of successful hits are required to decide a victor. The matches in this sport can be very short around 30 second rounds and each fight tends to be one round (though in some cases three rounds can be done). Scratching, pinching, pulling hair, striking vital points are forbidden. Most techniques used in Moraingy are somewhat visually similar to kickboxing styles found in South and South East Asia like Muay Thai. Moraingy specialises practical strikes from punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes in a upright stance which contrasts it to Ngolo (which is more comparable to the stylish dance like Capoeira). Children as young as 10 years old can train in this style and in more recent years even women are now practicing this art which tends to be unique contrast to most other African martial arts which are almost exclusively practiced by men. Matches are also accompanied by music (often Salegy) to contribute to the spiritual and communal experience of the style.
Warriors: Participants are typically called Kidabolahy (young man) or Fagnorolahy in the North of country. It is unknown if female participants are referred to either of these terms. Main techniques tend to center around punches like Misto (Straights), Mandraoky (Hooks), Vangofary (Downward Punches), Vangomioriky (Uppercuts). While there are no terms found for different kicking variations it can be seen that straightforward techniques such as push kicks, low kicks, shin kicks and knee strikes. While Moraingy stand out as being somewhere in between Dambe and Engolo balancing punching and kicking techniques, there is a regional variation of Moraingy practiced in the Reunionals that is more dance and acrobatic based taking aspects of Engolo/Capoeira.
Media/Potential: While we have no notable portrayals of Moraingy in media, it doesn't stop us from speculating how it can or could have been applied. Many fighting games could easily introduce an African kickboxer character who specialises in Moraingy (like the discarded King Cobra concept in Street Fighter IV). Along with Engolo and Dambe it is likely Moraingy techniques was applied to some of the unarmed fight scenes for Black Panther as well. It is notable whilst T'Challa takes advantage of his powers to perform acrobatic and stylish tricks. Nakia seems to use more pragmatic and practical techniques. This also contrasts her with Okoye who exclusively uses Spear fighting based off Donga, Nakia uses a blend of punches and kicks with a little bit of improvised weaponry. Currently martial arts youtuber Arasa Malik is working to modernise the Moringue style into modern kickboxing.
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