Paizinho

Mestre Paizinho, born Teodoro Ramos, was a capoeirista who taught in Itabuna, in the southern Bahia cocoa belt, during the era when capoeira was criminalized in Brazil. He represents a crucial link in one of the most important lineages in capoeira history, connecting the African-born Mestre Neném to Mestre Artur Emídio, who would become one of the four founding lineages of contemporary capoeira in Rio de Janeiro.

Paizinho was a disciple of Mestre Neném, described as "an African" or "of African origin", making Paizinho a second-generation practitioner from the African diaspora. Almost nothing is known about his early life or how he came to study under Neném, but he established himself as a teacher in Itabuna during the prohibition era.

What we know of Paizinho comes primarily from the testimony of his most famous student, Artur Emídio de Oliveira, who began training with him in 1937 at age seven. Paizinho would go to Artur's house on Rua Direita in the Pontalzinho neighborhood at 6 AM each morning to wake him for training. The training took place "in the street, on the pavement" but also in secret locations due to the legal prohibition.

In Artur Emídio's recounting: "The practice of Capoeira was prohibited. They trained on top of hills, in alleyways, at night and always hidden. Many were the times that my Master was arrested. But the next day the bail was paid, and he would leave. And at night, he would return to teach Capoeira, practiced for love!"

This vivid account captures the dangerous conditions under which Paizinho preserved and transmitted capoeira. The southern Bahia region, particularly around Itabuna and Ilhéus in the cocoa-growing belt, developed its own capoeira tradition separate from the more documented Salvador schools. This tradition was characterized by strict secrecy, training in remote locations, night-time practice, and strong master-student bonds forged under persecution.

Paizinho ran a capoeira academy in Itabuna—one of the few formal training spaces outside of Salvador during this period. His willingness to be repeatedly arrested rather than abandon teaching demonstrates the depth of his commitment to the art.

He died in 1945, struck by meningitis according to Artur Emídio. However, local legend tells a more fantastical story: that on moonlit nights in Itabuna and Ilhéus, Paizinho attempted to fly from the top of a coconut tree using palm leaves as wings, like Icarus in Greek mythology, and fell to his death. Artur Emídio dismissed this as legend, describing Paizinho's death as "morte morrida" (natural death).

After Paizinho's death, the fifteen-year-old Artur Emídio took over his master's academy and began teaching Paizinho's former students. Despite his youth, he quickly gained recognition, even receiving visiting students from Salvador. This act of continuation ensured that Paizinho's lineage would survive and eventually flourish in Rio de Janeiro, where Artur Emídio would become one of the most influential figures in contemporary capoeira history.