Mestre Celeste

Mestre Celeste was a disciple of Mestre Pastinha and one of the great masters of the Cosme de Farias neighborhood in Salvador, Bahia, alongside Mestre Canjiquinha and Mestre Alfredo. He carried the Angola tradition from Pastinha's Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA) into the next generation of practitioners.

Little is documented about Celeste's early life or his time at Pastinha's academy. What we know comes primarily through the testimonies of his students, particularly Mestre Roberval. According to Roberval, "Eu também conhecí o M. Celeste da academia do M. Pastinha. Foi através desses dois mestres [Alfredo e Celeste] que eu conhecí a Capoeira Angola" ("I also met M. Celeste from M. Pastinha's academy. It was through these two mestres that I came to know Capoeira Angola").

Celeste was active in the Cosme de Farias neighborhood, historically known as Quinta das Beatas, where capoeira had a strong presence. The neighborhood was home to several important mestres, and Friday rodas were held at the D. João Pedro dos Santos school, where Mestre Celeste was among the regular participants alongside students of Mestre Alfredo, Manoel Rezendo (a student of Mestre Bimba), and others. These rodas served as a meeting ground for practitioners from different lineages in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Celeste co-taught Roberval do Espírito Santo alongside Mestre Alfredo, who operated his academy in Campo Velho, another community within Cosme de Farias. Roberval began training at age 14 (around 1978) and would go on to co-found Grupo Filhos de Angola in 1981 and receive his mestre graduation from Alfredo in 1986. Through Celeste and Alfredo, Roberval absorbed the Angola tradition that he would later spread internationally.

Mestre Laércio, another co-founder of Filhos de Angola, also encountered Celeste at the Friday rodas at D. João Pedro dos Santos school. After Pastinha's death in 1981, Laércio moved to the Quinta das Beatas (Cosme de Farias) neighborhood, where he met Roberval and became immersed in the local capoeira community where Celeste was an important figure.

The exact circumstances of Celeste's death are not documented in available sources. His legacy lives on through his students and through the Filhos de Angola group, which has spread Capoeira Angola to Europe and beyond.