Bulgário

Bulgário was a capoeirista of Salvador, Bahia, active during the early-to-mid 20th century. He belonged to the generation of traditional capoeira angola practitioners who gathered at the Liberdade/Gengibirra neighborhood in Salvador before the formalization of capoeira academies.

The primary documentation of Bulgário comes from a 1969 newspaper article in A Tarde commemorating the anniversary of Mestre Pastinha's academy. The article described the informal Sunday gatherings at Gengibirra where "many capoeiristas got together on Sundays to play capoeira de Angola, not worrying about the styles of the fight or about the exhibition." They formed an "academia" (in the informal sense of a regular gathering), presided over by the civil guard Amorzinho.

Bulgário is listed among the mestres who participated in this gathering, alongside Antônio, Maré (Totonho de Maré), Daniel (Mestre Noronha), Livino Diogo, Alemão, Barbosa, Américo Ciência, Domingos Magalhães, Eulâmpio, Butique, and others. This places him among a notable generation of capoeira angola practitioners.

Notably, while Bulgário participated in the Liberdade roda, he was not among the 22 founding mestres of the Centro Nacional de Capoeira de Origem Angola listed in Mestre Noronha's manuscripts. Those founders included Noronha, Livino, Maré, Amorzinho, Raimundo ABR, Percílio, Geraldo Chapeleiro, Juvenal Engraxate, Geraldo Pé de Abelha, Zehi, Feliciano Bigode de Seda, Bonome, Henrique Cara Queimada, Onça Preta, Cimento, Algemiro Grande Olho de Pombo, Antonio Galindo, Antonio Boca de Porco, Candido Pequeno, Lúcio Pequeno, and Paquete do Cabula. This suggests Bulgário was a regular participant in the rodas but not an organizational founder of the formal centro.

In 1941, Mestre Pastinha was invited to witness the Sunday roda at Gengibirra by his former student Aberrê. The civil guard Amorzinho then handed leadership of the group to Pastinha, who founded the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA). What became of Bulgário after this transition is undocumented.

Bulgário's apelido is unusual in Portuguese - it is the adjective form of "Bulgária" (Bulgaria). How he acquired this nickname and its significance remain unknown.