Mestre Emerito

Mestre Emerito was a Capoeira Angola teacher in Salvador, Bahia, who taught from his home in the Engenho Velho de Brotas neighborhood during the early 1960s. His entire family practiced capoeira, making his home a center for the art's transmission to the next generation.

He is known primarily through the testimony of his most famous student: Mestre Jelon Vieira, who would go on to become one of the most influential figures in bringing capoeira to the United States.

The encounter between Emerito and Jelon came by chance on a Saturday afternoon around 1963. The ten-year-old Jelon was on his way to get a haircut when he heard the sound of a berimbau coming from the end of the Engenho Velho de Brotas bus line. Drawn by the music, he found a crowd of people gathered around a capoeira roda led by Mestre Emerito. Jelon watched for hours, enchanted by what he saw: two men leaping and executing leg sweeps while the crowd responded to the chorus that Emerito was singing.

After the roda ended, the young Jelon approached Emerito and said he wanted to learn "those kicks and jumps". Emerito laughed and explained that what Jelon had witnessed was Capoeira de Angola, then invited him to come to his house where he taught.

When Jelon told his mother he wanted to learn capoeira, she refused, saying the art had a very bad reputation and was practiced by bad people. From that day forward, Jelon decided to train in secret. He went to Emerito's house, where he was impressed to find that the entire family practiced. However, training there was risky because Emerito's house was very close to Jelon's own home, increasing the chance of discovery.

Jelon eventually transitioned to training with Mestre Bobô, whom he would later consider his "true mestre". But it was Emerito who first introduced him to capoeira and planted the seed that would grow into a lifetime's dedication to the art.

Emerito represents the countless unnamed teachers of capoeira who passed the art to the next generation during a time when it still carried significant social stigma. Through family practice and neighborhood rodas, teachers like Emerito kept the Angola tradition alive in Salvador during the mid-20th century.