Mestre Franklin

Mestre Franklin, known fully as Franklin Aleluia, was an early student of Mestre Ezequiel who played a foundational role in establishing Grupo Luanda, one of the important Capoeira Regional groups of Salvador.

In 1964, Mestre Ezequiel, who was training at Mestre Bimba's Centro de Cultura Física e Luta Regional, began teaching capoeira to friends who noticed his new physical agility. As the number of students grew, he founded Grupo Luanda together with his student Franklin. The group was formally registered as Grupo Folclórico Luanda in 1974.

Franklin's role as co-founder alongside his teacher Ezequiel speaks to the collaborative nature of early Grupo Luanda. While Ezequiel provided the direct link to Mestre Bimba's methodology and philosophy, Franklin helped establish the organizational structure that would allow the group to grow and persist.

Grupo Luanda's headquarters were established in the Resgate neighborhood (Cabula region) of Salvador, near Ezequiel's home. The name "Luanda"—the capital of Angola—was chosen to honor the ports from which enslaved Africans departed their homeland, while also carrying the meaning of "the junction of the moon and the earth" in Yoruba.

The group pursued Ezequiel's foundational concept of "educação com base na capoeira" (education based on capoeira), using the art as a form of education for children and youth. After Ezequiel's death in 1997, his students—including those formed in the lineage Franklin helped establish—continued Grupo Luanda and spread it internationally to Switzerland, France, Germany, Hawaii, and across the Americas.