h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In all actuality, "beating the bananas" out of your "opponent" isn't the main goal of Capoeira. Capoeira centres more on the "art" component of "martial art" - in that athletic grace, personal style, and the melding of body and music, are far more important than "beating" your "opponent".
I use the word opponent loosely, because when you are in the ring ("roda", brazilian-portugese for "circle"), your opponent is your friend. You are doing battle, but, not in the traditional (read: european) sense of the word. It is a battle of skills and styles, not of blood and pain. Now, don't get me wrong - Capoeira can be a powerful and effective tool for self-defense - but in the roda, that's not really the point.

More on Capoeira itself :
Capoeira is a highly athletic martial art, full of high powered kicks, flips, cartwheels, and the like. The speed and style (there are many regional forms) are set and kept by a live musical accompaniment, comprised of instruments such as drums, cowbells, blocks of wood, tambourines, and the signature Berimbau. The Berimbau is a bow-shaped item, with a thing metal string. The string is hit with a stick, and is tuned with a small peice of metal or stone (on the fly). A hollow gourd is used as a sounding board, and is placed at different distances from the chest in order to produce the desired tone and reverb. (It's sort of hard to describe, unless you're looking at it.)
Capoeira is the root of Breakdancing. Most of the power-moves in breaking (flares, 1990's, stalls, six-step, etc..) are based in Capoeira. In fact, the two, when displayed side by side, are strikingly similiar.

Are a tough nut to crack and the theories vary wildly since nobody really knows. What is know is that it was invented by the african slaves in the culturalclash that occured in colonial times in brazil.
I'm not saying that the origin suggested in the article is entirely wrong, just that there ar loads of other versions that have to be taken into consideration.

Axé!