Mestre Paraná

Oswaldo Lisboa dos Santos, known as Mestre Paraná, was born on September 25, 1922, in Salvador, Bahia. His parents were Cândido Lisboa dos Santos and Albertina Maria dos Santos. In 1932, at age ten, he began learning capoeira in the Alto das Pombas neighborhood with Mestre Antônio Corró—an ex-slave born in 1870, illiterate, who worked as a cart driver at Cais Dourado in Salvador.

In February 1945, Paraná moved to Rio de Janeiro with his wife Maura Bastos (1920-1989) shortly after leaving the Brazilian Navy, where he had trained in boxing and completed his military service. In June 1945, he was hired by IPASE (Instituto de Pensões e Assistência aos Servidores do Estado) as a specialized craftsman, a position he held until his death.

Paraná lived in the Bonsucesso neighborhood in Rio's northern zone and began teaching capoeira in his backyard during the 1950s. His wife Maura, known affectionately as "Tia Maura", played a fundamental role in receiving and caring for the many young students who came to train. In 1950, according to Mestre Polaco, he founded the Conjunto Folclórico de Capoeira São Bento Pequeno on Rua Miguel Burnier. The group later evolved into the foundation from which Grupo Muzenza traces its entire formation.

In the capoeira universe, Paraná became known primarily as an excellent berimbau player. A carpenter by profession and training, he carefully manufactured his own berimbaus using coated strings and varnished wood. His meticulous attention to tuning is documented in musicological analysis of his recordings—he maintained fixed pitches across the viola (Db4-Eb4), médio (B3-Db4), and gunga (Ab3-Bb3) for instrumental tracks, unifying to Ab3-Bb3 for vocal tracks to match the song's key.

The Grupo São Bento Pequeno presented itself at various types of shows, disseminating Afro-Brazilian culture in "Bahian Nights" organized by social clubs and carnival schools, carnival parades, and theatre productions. Most notably, Paraná participated as a berimbau player in the Rio de Janeiro staging of "O Pagador de Promessas" by Dias Gomes in 1962, alongside fellow capoeirista Joel Lourenço.

Paraná collaborated extensively with the pioneering Black dancer Mercedes Baptista, participating in shows and festivals including the IV Festival Folclórico do Distrito Federal in August 1966, where the Teatro Nacional de Brasília was also inaugurated. In 1969, he traveled to Lisbon with Mercedes Batista's dance group.

His great ability as a musician allowed him to record, in 1963, a single record with four tracks for CBS, called "Capoeira – Mestre Paraná". The EP 45 featured tracks entitled "São Bento Grande", "São Bento Pequeno", "Angola", and "Avise a meu Mano". According to Mestre Gegê, Onça Preta played pandeiro on this recording, and Mestre Mucungê also participated. Musicologist André Luiz Lacé Lopez notes that Paraná invited Bahian musicians Mucungê and Santo Amaro to participate.

Paraná was the first capoeirista to play berimbau at the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro and reportedly the only capoeira master to hold a Musicians' Guild card for the berimbau. His musical influence extended to the next generation—Mestre Genaro learned to play berimbau directly from him and later created a song called "Paranaê" incorporating the name of his music teacher.

He frequently directed the percussion section during Artur Emídio's Sunday rodas, and his Sunday rodas became legendary meeting points. At these gatherings, notable artists including Maria Bethânia, Caetano Veloso, Jards Macalé, Mestres Mintirinha and Genaro, and music producer Nelson Motta appeared.

There is consensus among Rio de Janeiro capoeira historians that four lineages were the main influences in the formation of Contemporary Capoeira in the city: Artur Emídio, Paraná, Mário Buscapé, and Roque. As Mestre Levi stated, these four "started to work in closed spaces of academies, introduced uniforms, organisation, etc. From these four the majority of capoeira masters here in Rio de Janeiro derived".

Mestre Paraná died on March 7, 1972, at age 49, victim of a cardiac arrest at his IPASE workplace where he worked as a carpenter. He was buried in the Cemitério do Murundu in Realengo. His ability and talent playing berimbau is always highlighted by masters who had the opportunity to meet him.