Customer Reviews

Filipino Martial Arts: Cabales Serrada Escrima

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'll preface this by saying I don't know ANYTHING about the politics behind Mr. Wiley and Mr. Cabales... I'll just stick to reviewing the book, thank you.

This book attempts to be an brief overview on the basic history, concepts, and techniques of Cabales Serrada Escrima. Without knowing anything about Escrima as a whole, I'd say that it looked good to me.

The first two chapters are on the overall history of escrima and the specific developement of CSE, suggesting that the system may have it's roots in India and noting that Spanish sword-and-dagger techniques had a significant influence on the overall style. The third chapter very briefly covers superstitions/ spiritual beliefs prevalent in the Phillipines and their relavence to CSE, though I'm sure entire volumes could be written on that subject. The fourth chapter, "Psychological Attributes", has a few paragraphs on awareness, motivation, imagery, and emotional control; while dealing specifically with escrima, I'm sure that they'd be useful to any martial artist. The following chapter covers some pretty intangible concepts, such as "innovation is your best teacher" and "mastery requires dedication", and seeks to bring together both the artistic and scientific qualities of escrima. Like the preceeding chapters, I just don't feel like this one was long enough.

Chapter Six starts into the physical aspects of Escrima, covering the arsenal (both anatomical weapons and the blunt and edged weapons). Mr. Wiley explains that the system uses a slightly shorter stick than some other escrima systems, and that the anatomical weapons and movements should mirror the armed weapons and their tactics. Chapter Seven covers the foundation of the system, as far as movements and posturing. In this chapter, there is the usual mix of stance and salutation presented, but also footwork, fundamental distance concepts, basic ways of striking, and the use of the "alive" (non-weapon) hand.

Starting with Chapter Eight, we are presented with the twelve basic attack angles (mostly with a single-stick, but also with stick-and-dagger), basic defenses against strikes along those angles, unarmed defenses (basic blocks, jointlocks, and "bodylocks" or takedowns), and disarms vs. the single-stick.

My complaints? Not many. It's clearly a book simply on basics (one block for one angle, one disarm per angle, no empty-hand strikes illustrated), and I was disappointed there wasn't more to it. And far be it from me to criticise something I'm not particularly learned at, but we're not actually getting twelve "angles" here, as some of the attacks presented follow the same "flight paths" of others, or are simply stick-dagger combination strikes. The fact that the possition of the wrist in some of the strikes looks weak lends some credence to the suggestion that the author isn't an athority in the CSE system, but again, what do I know? And as I said, I don't think there was enough substance to the cultural, philosophical, and mental chapters to really do any system justice

Overall, though, I'd say the book serves as a good intro to escrima and basic stickfighting. The pictures are clear and the writting, while not very detailed or in-depth, is understandible and easy to get through. I'm glad I spent money on it.

I had the oppertunity back in 1994 to study with Mark Miley as he was a guest in my late master's (Herman Davis) dochang in Riverside, NJ. the book is exactly how he showed us in class. i felt like i was in the book. buy it and if your lucky you might be able to catch up with Mark. j.k. southern nj

There are few books about the Filipino arts, so this was a very welcome addition when it was published. Mr. Wiley presents a comprehensive overview of the Cabales Serrada Escrima system as it was taught to him by the late founder of the style. As an avid martial artist, I found the book to be a great reference and introduction to the Filipino fighting arts.

Not knowing any better, I thought the book was very good. But, after finding a school under the same lineage, but with a more knowledgeable Master teaching the art, the book turned out to be a bust. The techniques and explanations, as well as the pictures used to describe the movements are totally useless in a real-life situation/combat. And sorry, Vincent is NOT the grandmaster of the art and he was NEVER given the title by his father, the late Grandmaster Angel Cabales. The intro "written" by Angel is a lie because Angel's English was broken like most of the Pilipino immigrants. That intro was fabricated for the book. Do your homework and search what's available to you. Better yet, find someone who really knows the truth.

The foreword of the book was personally written by Grandmaster Angel Cabales who tells why he personally chose Mark Wiley to present his art to the public. As it clearly stated in the book, Grandmaster Angel Cabales read and approved the manuscript before his unfortunate death in 1991.

In this introductory book, Mr. Wiley purposely exaggerated the movements and distance of this short range fighting style to help the photographer and give the reader a clearer view of how the techniques are performed. Basic concepts and techinques were explained, but as with any martial arts book, it was never intended to be used as a means to learn the art without a qualified instructor. It is also admirable that Mr. Wiley focused on presenting the art form of Grandmaster Angel Cabales and did not digress into tales of his training that do nothing more than boost his own image like so many other martial arts authors do.

The author's qualifications to teach, write about, and demonstrate this art are impeccable. Mark Wiley received his Master's Degree (Pangulong Guro) in Cabales Serrada Escrima in March of 1990 by Grandmaster Angel Cabales. Mark Wiley has written for and edited numerous martial arts publications and regularly travels to the Philippines as well as other parts of Asia to do research on and continue his study of the martial arts.

Mark Wiley is to be congratulated/encouraged for at least writing about this art of which there wasn't much info around. Mark does make some mistakes when he shows the basic counter routines, specially with the check hand sequence. In some photos every position is incorrect. The story about Guro Cabales and his anecdotes also is not really correct. Yet, I will keep the book as an important source of some information and a promising presentation. The next version is supposed to be out in coming months. Initially, in order to prepare for this story, Mark should have spent some time training in Stockton with Serrada's top Guros. He did not allow them to contribute to the book. This next version "Secrets of Cabales Serrada Eskrima" is supposed to ammend all mistakes.

This book is not worth wasting your money on. The techniques that are represented look OK to the untrained eye, but if you examine them closely, you will notice many mistakes. The techniques are sparse, one per angle. They are also demonstrated with poor posture and attack. To the novice, this book may appear to represent the art of Cabales Serrada Escrima, but it does not. More than half of the book is unrelated to the system of Serrada. This book does nothing to show the effectiveness of Cabales Serrada Escrima.

It is obvious to me that anyone that likes this book does not know a lot about Serrada. There seem to be a lot of unanswered questions about this book. First off, if the forward was written by GM Angel then why wasn't a copy of this document included as part of the book? Because this is false. How could GM Angel have read a copy of the manuscript when Mark Wiley himself admits in an interview that he didn't write the book until 1993? By the way, GM Angel Cabales passed away in 1991. Only part of the techniques in the book are basic techniques. About half are really advanced techniques that wouldn't even be understood by a beginning student. Yes Mark Wiley might hold a master's degree, but how long did it take him to get it? About six months? Isn't it funny that Wiley holds a number of degrees in various arts that would normally take people a lifetime to accumulate,but Mr. Wiley seems to have accomplished this in about ten years? How convenient! And even the techniques shown in the book are lacking in quality. There is definately not enough emphasis placed on the check-hand, a trademark of Serrada. Let me help you out by saying that buying this book would be a waste of money.

Mark Wiley's book is good but it seems to portray much more of a "middle-range" form of Cabales Escrima than it does a true Serrada form. If you are new to escrima and want to know more about this art (specifically of Serrada Escrima), I suggest doing more research on this topic before attempting to study the art. Mark Wiley's instructional section shows a non-combative form of Escrima, or at the most, it portrays tactics which would only be used in retreating situations. The reader should keep this in mind and should go beyond Wiley's book for a full understanding of Serrada Escrima. There is much more to Cabales Serrada Escrima than Mark Wiley has shown. I recommend surfing the net for more information.

I knew Mark 10 years ago at the Degerberg Academy in Chicago. At that time he was there to study Escrima and various other arts. I bought the book and am glad he got a chance to write a book about something he enjoys. Mark always worked hard at the art and did a fine job in providing pictures and showing movements. Congratulations, Mark!