Mestre Djalma Bandeira

Djalma Bandeira Lima was born in 1934 in Sergipe and spent the greater part of his life in the neighborhood of Olaria, in the northern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. By profession, he was a tailor.

He learned capoeira from Mestre Artur Emídio de Oliveira, becoming his very first student and building what writer André Lacé Lopes described as a partnership akin to "Don Quixote and Sancho Panza". This close professional and personal relationship would define much of his capoeira career.

A lover of martial arts, Djalma studied jiu-jitsu with the Gracie family in Copacabana, karate at the Kobucana academy on Largo da Carioca, and became an expert practitioner of Portuguese stick fighting (jogo do pau). This passion for combat sports led him to work as a professional fighter during the 1950s and participate in competitions, though without much success. In one such fight against Angelito Cruz, Djalma lost after his opponent applied a footlock. According to his student Mestre Vilmar, he eventually quit fighting to devote himself entirely to capoeira.

His dedication resulted in a famous partnership with Artur Emídio. The two traveled together performing in shows on Brazilian popular culture, with both responsible for the capoeira aspect of these productions. Working with producers Abraão Medina and Carlos Machado, they performed throughout Brazil and internationally - in Buenos Aires, Acapulco, New York, Paris, cities in the Iberian Peninsula, and many other locations. Some of these shows became famous in Rio de Janeiro, including "Capital Samba", "Skindô", and the musical "Arco-Íris", which featured great artists such as Joãozinho da Goméia, Ary Barroso, and Mestre Paraná.

In 1961, Djalma Bandeira and Artur Emídio participated in the official introduction of capoeira into the Brazilian Navy. Working with Lieutenant Lamartine Pereira da Costa from the School of Physical Education, the duo assisted in teaching a course on the "methodology of teaching capoeira" to 208 officers and enlisted men at the Navy Sports Centre. The objective was to train capoeira monitors who would propagate the practice throughout all Navy establishments.

Despite his journey being marked by his partnership with Artur Emídio and their shows, Djalma Bandeira established himself as a significant capoeira teacher and martial arts researcher in his own right. He started to organize capoeira classes in Olaria, specifically at the IAPC Residential Complex Community Centre, where he founded Grupo de Capoeira Djalma Bandeira. He taught children for free and began staging exhibitions with students from his group.

One of his most notable students was Mestre Vilmar (Vilmar Brito Cruz), who described his teacher as "one of the best capoeira masters that a suburb of Rio de Janeiro has ever produced, in a time when the best capoeira in the world was played in the suburbs of Rio". Celso Pepe, who later became an important mestre himself, was a neighbor at the IAPC estate and first encountered capoeira in 1957 through Djalma's Sunday classes. Though initially refused due to his young age of eight, Celso watched Djalma's training and rodas, later crediting Djalma with teaching him the São Bento Grande game.

Djalma Bandeira also participated in the early stages of regulating capoeira practice in Rio de Janeiro. In 1975, he was appointed referee adviser to the Capoeira Directorate of the Brazilian Federation of Pugilism (where capoeira was administratively housed at the time).

He was part of a whole generation of capoeiristas born in the 1930s - including Artur Emídio, Leopoldina, Mário Buscapé, Roque, Paulo Gomes, and Celso do Engenho - who formed the core from which contemporary capoeira developed in Rio de Janeiro. During the sixties and seventies, the North Zone's finest capoeira was concentrated in Bonsucesso and surrounding neighborhoods like Higienópolis and Olaria, where masters like Artur Emídio, Paraná, Djalma Bandeira, Mário Buscapé, and Mentirinha lived, worked, or taught.

Those who knew him described Djalma as "frank and sincere, almost rude, a good character, a good friend". He died in 1988, at approximately 54 years of age.