Zé Bedeu

Zé Bedeu was a capoeirista from Salvador, Bahia, active in the early-to-mid 20th century. He was the brother of Liberato Francisco Xavier (known as Chico Preto), a capoeirista who operated a fish stand at the famous Mercado Modelo in Salvador.

Zé Bedeu lived in or near the Nazaré neighborhood of Salvador, where his brother Chico Preto raised his family. Both brothers were capoeiristas during a pivotal era—the period surrounding the legalization of capoeira in 1937, when the art transitioned from illegal street practice to recognized cultural expression.

Zé Bedeu was the father and primary teacher of Marco Buscapé, passing on the art of capoeira to his son. Through this lineage, Zé Bedeu helped establish a family tradition of capoeira practice that connected to the broader network of Bahian practitioners.

His nephew was Mestre Roque (Roque Mendes dos Santos, born 1938 in Cachoeira), who would become one of four founding lineages of contemporary capoeira in Rio de Janeiro. Mestre Roque, raised in the Nazaré neighborhood of Salvador, learned capoeira through his father Chico Preto's connections but also benefited from the broader family environment of capoeira practice that included his uncle Zé Bedeu.

It is important to note that Marco Buscapé (son of Zé Bedeu) is a distinct person from Mário Buscapé (1934-2021), the famous mestre from São Francisco do Conde who founded the Capoeiras do Bonfim group in Rio de Janeiro. Mário Buscapé's father was José Bidel dos Santos (Mestre Bidel), not Zé Bedeu. These represent two separate family lineages in capoeira history.