Mestre Lapinha

Djalma Antônio Souza Nascimento, known as Mestre Lapinha, is a capoeira mestre from the lineage of Mestre Roque in Rio de Janeiro. He joined Roque's school at a later stage of Roque's teaching career, after the master had already established himself as one of the four founding lineages of contemporary capoeira in Rio de Janeiro.

Lapinha trained under Roque alongside other students who would become significant figures in their own right: Sandrinha (recognized as possibly the first female mestra in Brazil), Paulo Siqueira (who would become a pioneer of capoeira in Germany), Poeira, Derli, and Cosme. Through this lineage, Lapinha inherited the Angola tradition of the "line of São Bento" that Roque brought from Bahia to Rio's Zona Sul.

Beyond his practice of capoeira, Lapinha became an important documentarian of Rio de Janeiro capoeira history. He maintains a personal archive (Acervo M. Lapinha) containing photographs from the capoeira community. Historical photos from his collection show him with notable mestres including Acordeon (of Mestre Bimba's lineage), Artur Emídio, Mendonça, and his teacher Roque—documenting connections across different lineages and eras.

In 2019, Lapinha was interviewed for the Capoeira History documentation project, providing testimony about his training with Roque and his memories of fellow students. His account of Mestra Sandrinha reveals the intensity of the training environment: "This Sandrinha... she played a lot. Nobody could challenge her, no. Nobody would dare to provoke her." He described how Roque "loved her. He treated her like she was his daughter. And he incorporated capoeira into this woman."

Through his practice, teaching, and documentation efforts, Lapinha represents the continuation of Mestre Roque's lineage into the contemporary era.