Lúcio Pequeno

Lúcio Pequeno appears in history as one of the 22 founding mestres of the Centro Nacional de Capoeira de Origem Angola, the first organized capoeira center in Bahia. The center was established in the 1920s at Ladeira de Pedra in the Gengibirra area of the Liberdade neighborhood in Salvador.

This information comes from the manuscripts of Mestre Noronha (Daniel Coutinho, 1909-1977), one of the most important primary sources documenting early 20th century capoeira in Salvador. In his handwritten notebooks, completed in 1976 and published posthumously in 1993, Noronha listed all 22 founding mestres of Gengibirra. Lúcio Pequeno's name appears immediately after Cândido Pequeno "Argolinha de Ouro" (Golden Little Ring), the "champion of capoeira in the State of Bahia" who was Noronha's own teacher from 1917.

Lúcio and Cândido share the surname "Pequeno", but no source confirms any family relationship between them. In Salvador's capoeira world of the early 1900s, surnames were not always hereditary - they could reflect nicknames, physical characteristics, or adopted names. The shared surname may be coincidental.

Lúcio Pequeno was part of the founding generation that sought to organize and legitimize capoeira angola at a time when the practice was still criminalized in Brazil. The Gengibirra center adopted green and yellow - the colors of the Brazilian flag - as its official colors, wore them on their clothes, and established clear combat rules.

In 1941, following the death of Amorzinho, the surviving mestres handed the center to Mestre Pastinha. There is no mention of Lúcio Pequeno in connection with this 1941 transfer, suggesting he may have died or departed the group before then. Beyond his name in Noronha's list, nothing else is known about Lúcio Pequeno.