The foundation of the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola—CECA, 1940s–1950s
During the 1930s the traditional Bahian capoeira became increasingly identified as ‘capoeira de Angola’, in
opposition to the ‘capoeira Regional’ developed by Bimba.^19 Responses to the attempts at modernization
among the older generation of capoeiras were far from clear cut and often ambiguous. Some started to take
on board the changes made by Bimba. A number of mestres however decided to fight for the survival of the
traditional vadiação, refusing to modernize along the lines of the Regional. Most prominent among these
was a group of mestres who held regular rodas in an area called Gengibirra, located at the end of the tram
line in Liberdade, a popular and mainly black neighbourhood on a hill beyond the old Centre, just above the
Northern edge of the downtown area. Here rodas took place under the command of Mestre Amorzinho, a
civil guard. His profession certainly helped the group to avoid police repression and to acquire some
respectability. According to Daniel Coutinho, known as Mestre Noronha (1909–1977), this was the first centre
for Capoeira Angola and had been founded by 22 mestres among which highly respected characters sucb as
Antônio Maré, Onça Preta, Geraldo Chapeleiro, and Juvenal besides Amorzinho, Noronha himself and his
brother Livino Diogo.^20
Following the account by Pastinha, which subsequently became the most common version of the story,
one of his best students, Raimundo Argollo, known as Aberrê (also spelled ABR) went there as a visitor.
The mestres in attendance were so impressed with his game that they asked who had taught him. Aberrê
therefore insisted on taking Pastinha to the Gengibirra roda. According to Pastinha’s manuscripts, he finally
went there on 23 February 1941 to see Aberrê play:
And to my surprise Mr.Armósinho [sic] the owner of that capoeira, shaking my hand, said: It has been
a long time since I wanted to hand you over this capoeira for you to teach. I still tried to avoid this by
apologizing, but Mr Antonio Maré took the floor and said: There is no way, Pastinha, you are the one
who will be in charge of this. Since his comrades gave me their support, I accepted.^21Figure 6.3 One of the few photos showing Mestre Pastinha practising capoeira. Photo by Pierre Verger, 1946–7. By
kind permission of the Pierre Verger Foundation.
PASTINHA AND ANGOLA STYLE 151