Geraldo Chapeleiro

Geraldo Chapeleiro was one of the founding mestres of the Centro de Capoeira Angola at Ladeira de Pedra in the Liberdade neighborhood of Salvador, Bahia during the 1920s. This center, also known as Gengibirra, was the first organized capoeira Angola institution in the state of Bahia.

He was part of an illustrious group of 22 founding mestres that included Mestre Noronha, Livino, Maré, Amorzinho, Juvenal Engraxate, Onça Preta, Cândido Pequeno, and others. The colors of the center were green and yellow, the colors of the Brazilian flag, and they established clear combat rules for their capoeira Angola practice.

Geraldo Chapeleiro was also a regular participant in the Sunday rodas at Matatu Preto in the Matatu neighborhood. According to Mestre Canjiquinha's testimony from 1935, he was among the capoeiristas who gathered there: "There, on Sundays, all these capoeiristas would come - Onça Preta, Geraldo Chapeleiro, Totonho Maré, Creoni, Chico Três Pedaços, Pedro Paulo Barroquinha, the late Barboza, and this citizen called Antonio Raimundo, nicknamed by everyone Aberrê".

In 1941, along with the other surviving founding mestres, Geraldo Chapeleiro participated in handing over their Centro Nacional de Capoeira de Origem Angola to Mestre Pastinha, who would go on to elevate the center to prominence. This transfer occurred after the death of Amorzinho, who had been the guard and a key leader of the group.

His name is preserved through the testimonies of old mestres and in the songs (cantigas) of capoeira, keeping his memory alive in the collective consciousness of the capoeira community.