The well known [sic] capoeirista Mestre Bimba brought to our awareness the violence of which he
was a victim yesterday at 10:40 a.m. on the hill of Vila America in the Engenho Velho. Mestre Bimba
said that a group of policemen, under the command of Lúcio de Tal, better known as Barra Preta from
the Motor Pool, was causing turmoil in the aforementioned place, and without reason grabbed a young
boy. Mestre Bimba became involved when he tried to take the boy away from the policeman’s hands
and only missed being wounded by bayonet because he used his capoeira technique to avoid it.^71Another important performance in a new context was the inclusion of Bimba’s group into the programme of
independence celebrations during the night of 1 July 1936 on the Municipal Square. (On 2 July 1823 Bahia
adhered to Brazilian independence, and this festival serves as a strong marker of regional identity.)
Although this performance at an official celebration was disapproved by the conservative press, it was
another clear sign that Bimba persuaded newspaper reports on capoeira to move from the pages dedicated to
crime to those dedicated to social events and sports.^72
Less publicized, but perhaps more important in the long term was the attraction Bimba’s style had within
the Brazilian military. In 1938, he started teaching at the Training Centre for Army Officers in Reserve
(Centro de Preparação de Oficiais de Reserva—CPOR) at the Barbalho fort in Salvador (see Figure 5.5).^73
During two years he administered capoeira lessons there, again an important innovation. The military and
the military police seemed impressed by the efficiency of his style, the training methods and some special
features such as the ‘ambush’ (emboscada), which resembled anti-guerilla training. From that moment
onwards capoeira was to experience a lasting success in the barracks, but also growing intervention from
officers, who sought to impose their views on how capoeira should be practised.
Although Bimba taught students from middle- or upper-class background, he never abandoned—as many
critics suggested—teaching the lower classes as well. He counted fishermen, masons and blacksmiths
among his students.
According to Acordeon, some of his poorer students did not even pay for training.^74 Bimba apparently
used to call these students his ‘folk from the backwoods’ (‘pessoal do mato’).^75 As a matter of fact, capoeira
Regional did not only spread to middle-class audiences in the city, but acquired a solid lower-class basis as
well. As his academy moved around Salvador, the number of students from all social backgrounds
increased.
As diverse as its social basis was the political obedience of his students. ‘During the 1940s many anti-
fascist intellectuals frequented the academy, like, for instance, Ramagem Badaró, journalist, proprietor and
director of the journal Magazine das Américas. He was a friend and a student of Bimba.’^76 After the end of
the Estado Novo dictatorship the Left made significant inroads into the black working classes, some of
which were Bimba’s students. In 1946, during its brief period of legality, the PCB included capoeira among
its celebrations for the twenty-fourth anniversary of the party.^77
Jair Moura, son of lawyer, PCB leader and deputy Jaime Alves Moura, trained with Bimba during the
1950s. According to his testimony, ‘in 1960, I was commissioned by the PCB to restructure its cell in
Northeastern Amaralina (Bimba’s neighbourhood). Some of the working-class elements there were Bimba’s
students.’ When the Campaign for the legalization of the Communist Party took off, in 1963, Moura
arranged a meeting in Bimba’s academy to collect signatures for the legalization of the party:
I invited Fernando Santana, Aristeu Nogueira (First Secretary of the Party’s Regional Committee),
Mário Alves and even Carlos Marighela [later famous Maoist dissident and urban guerilla leader].
Bimba was not a militant, but he was a sympathizer. He liked [Brazilian Communist leader and138 BIMBA AND ‘REGIONAL’ STYLE