Mestre Lua Rasta

Gilson Fernandes, known as Mestre Lua Rasta, was born on July 28, 1950, in Macaúbas, a neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia. He is a capoeira master, musician, craftsman, and internationally recognized researcher of Afro-Brazilian percussion instruments.

In 1968, at age eighteen, Lua Rasta began his apprenticeship in capoeira with Mestre Bimba, the legendary founder of Capoeira Regional. After one year with Bimba, in 1969 he transferred to the academy of Mestre Canjiquinha, joining the folkloric group Aberrê. Under Canjiquinha's guidance, he developed capoeira as a theatrical language, participating in many street rodas and joining capoeiristas from around the world.

In 1970, Lua Rasta joined Grupo Viva Bahia, the pioneering folkloric group coordinated by ethnomusicologist Emília Biancardi. Through this group, which toured internationally presenting Afro-Brazilian culture, he performed alongside mestres like João Grande, Jelon Vieira, Acordeon, Preguiça, and Suassuna. During the 1970s, he was responsible for maintaining atabaques for performances of Biancardi's theater group. It was then that he learned to "encourar" - the art of placing and stretching leather with cords on atabaques - from the famous musician, carnival figure, and artisan Nelson Maleiro.

At around twenty years old, Lua Rasta lived in Geneva, Switzerland, where he began to earn a living from capoeira: building instruments, performing, and teaching. In 1975, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, developing alternative activities in street capoeira and popular theater. From 1981 to 1984, he lived in Europe, opening doors in many countries for the penetration of capoeira and Brazilian popular culture. He traveled to countries in Africa and Asia, conducting musical research that greatly influenced his crafts and the creation of his instruments.

Upon returning to Bahia, Lua Rasta created the Ateliê Percussivo, a center of reference for the manufacture, dissemination, and research of Afro-Brazilian instruments, located in Pelourinho. The workshop produces pandeiros, berimbaus, atabaques, caxixis, xequerês, and other percussion instruments, using materials like wood, leather, seeds, cords, and metals. His pyrographed decorations have become the signature of his handcrafted instruments, sought by specialists worldwide.

From 1990, Lua Rasta began intensive work conducting special training workshops and lectures on capoeira and percussion throughout Brazil and the world. He also devotes special attention to the Bando Anunciador - a traditional street procession that goes through the streets of Pelourinho announcing that the roda is about to begin. The procession leads to his famous Friday night roda at the Terreiro de Jesus, in Salvador's historic center - a gathering where capoeiristas of all lineages pass through, including Mouringue practitioners from Reunion Islands.

He played a pivotal role in reviving his friend Mestre Bigodinho. In the early 1970s, Bigodinho had left capoeira due to repression and discrimination. In 1997, Lua Rasta encouraged his return to active participation. In 2007, together with Mestre Ivan de Santo Amaro, he organized the "Tributo a Mestre Bigodinho" - a three-day celebration in Salvador and Santo Amaro that transformed the streets of Bigodinho's childhood home in Acupe into a festive open-air celebration, with capoeiristas of all lineages honoring the veteran mestre.

In May 2021, Lua Rasta received the title of Mestre Artesão (Master Artisan) from the State Government of Bahia, becoming, alongside Mestre Olavo, one of the first master artisans of capoeira recognized in Brazil. This recognition came through an initiative of the Coordenação de Fomento ao Artesanato of the Secretaria do Trabalho, Emprego, Renda e Esporte (Setre).

He has recorded CDs including "Roda Do Terreiro" and "Andar com Lua", and music with the Bando Anunciador. Canjiquinha's legacy lives through him: "Capoeira has no creed, no color, no flag - it belongs to the people, it will travel the world".