Prata Preta: an exiled capoeira
By KK Bonates – Luiz Carlos de Matos Bonates On 10 November 1904, a series of popular protests took place on the streets of Rio…
Black Shirt
By Antônio Luiz dos Santos Campos (Mestre Boa Alma). Miguel Camisa Preta, a nickname that can be translated as Michael Black Shirt, was a capoeira,…
Seven Crowns
By Rômulo Costa Mattos. The construction of the memory about Sete Coroas, the most famous “criminal” of the First Republic At the beginning of the…
Master Leopoldina – part 3
By Nestor Capoeira. The disciple I met Leopoldina in 1965, at the age of 18. He was 31 and, and despite being in great shape,…
Madame Satan
Madame Satã is a singular character in the capoeira universe of Rio de Janeiro. He represents, better than anyone else, the capoeiragem of the old…
Master Leopoldina – part 2
By Nestor Capoeira. Master Quinzinho (approx.1925-1950) was a dreaded and well-known young outcast in his day. Drauzio Varela, the doctor from the Carandiru Penitentiary who…
Master Leopoldina – Part 1
By Nestor Capoeira. Mestre Leopoldina, joyous on a parade day at the Rio de Janeiro Sambadrome. Photo Collection André Lacé. I was in my first…
Madame, the Satan of Lapa District
By Geisa Rodrigues. Madame Satan, in the Correio da Manhã, 1972. Source: National Archive. In the blink of an eye his hands turned to feet…