Mestre Arraia

Aldenor Benjamim, known as Mestre Arraia, was born on January 17, 1946, in Jacobina, Bahia, but spent most of his childhood and adolescence in Salvador. The son of Amarílio Benjamim—a lawyer, judge, and eventually minister in the Supreme Federal Court—and Arlinda, Aldenor grew up in the vibrant capoeira scene of Salvador's golden era. He loved to tell stories about his experiences in the city, about capoeira, and about the two great masters Pastinha and Bimba.

During the 1960s, while studying History at the Federal University of Bahia, Arraia became deeply involved in the student movement against the military dictatorship. Capoeira and political activism merged in his life: "Mestre Arraia and his companions used to protect the students in the front line of the protests". He participated in rodas throughout Salvador, training and networking among the city's capoeiristas, including contemporaries such as Mestre Acordeon (Ubirajara), Mestre Sena (Carlos Senna), Gildo Alfinete, and Roberto Satanás at Mestre Bimba's academy.

In 1960, his family had moved to Brasília when his father was offered a ministerial position. Arraia eventually followed in the late 1960s, as his parents grew concerned about his health and the intensifying political repression in Salvador. In Brasília, he enrolled in Law at the CeuB university and began teaching capoeira.

What made Arraia historically significant was his role as a pioneer: according to his student Mestre Danadinho, Arraia was "the first capoeira, that one has news of in history, to take the game to public school". At the Colégio Elefante Branco, a new generation of capoeiristas gathered under his guidance. He also taught in the "pilotis" of SQS 206 and in public squares, spreading capoeira through informal channels across the south of the city.

His students would go on to transform Brazilian capoeira. Cláudio Danadinho became a founding member (corda vermelha) of Grupo Senzala. Hélio Tabosa, Alfredo "Fritz", and Barto all became mestres. Together with Tabosa and Fritz, Danadinho helped Senzala win the Berimbau de Ouro competition in 1967—a victory that established the group's reputation. Other students included Adilson, Zulu, Gilvan, and Skisito. Through them, Arraia's influence extended from Brasília to Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and beyond.

In the 1980s, Arraia increasingly became a family man. Health problems gradually led him to step away from teaching, though his thoughts remained with "the fights, the dance, and the traditions". Between 1984 and 1985, he divorced his first wife, Dr. Fernanda Sobral (a sociologist at UnB), and returned to Salvador. In the late 1980s or early 1990s, he met his second wife Tereza, with whom he shared the joy of raising his grandchildren Leonardo and Gabriela.

Mestre Arraia passed away on January 14, 2005, in Porto Seguro, Bahia—a place he loved deeply and considered his "terra santa" (sacred land). The day after his death, his student Cláudio Danadinho wrote a tribute published on the ASCADF (Associação de Capoeira do Distrito Federal) website at IESambi.org, honoring the man who had "opened the path for many capoeiristas who followed".