Chico Me Dá

Chico Me Dá was a legendary capoeirista of Salvador, Bahia, active during the late 19th or early 20th century. He is known from Mestre Pastinha's 1967 interview with Roberto Freire for Revista Realidade, where Pastinha recalled the great capoeiristas of the past.

In that interview, conducted when Pastinha was 78 years old and nearly blind, the father of Capoeira Angola listed seventeen deceased practitioners who had practiced "the pure Capoeira de Angola as I and these boys there do until today". Chico Me Dá was among them, alongside other colorfully-named figures such as Bigode de Seda (Silk Mustache), Américo Ciência, Bugalho, Amorzinho (Little Love), Zé Bom Pé (Joe Good Foot), Chico Três Pedaços (Chico Three Pieces), Tibiriçá da Folha Grossa (Tibiriçá of the Thick Leaf), Doze Homens (Twelve Men), Inimigo Sem Tripa (Gutless Enemy), Vitorino Braço Torto (Vitorino Crooked Arm), Zé do U, Zé do Saco (Joe of the Sack), Bené do Correio (Bené of the Post Office), and Sete Mortes (Seven Deaths). Pastinha also mentioned two women among these legendary practitioners: Júlia Fogareira and Maria Homem.

Pastinha remarked of these figures: "Digo a gente, lembrando os grandes capoeiristas do passado. Já estão mortos. Cada nome destes é uma história" (We speak, remembering the great capoeiristas of the past. They are already dead. Each of these names is a story). He emphasized that their nicknames revealed their character and fighting style: "From the nicknames alone you can know who they were, how they fought".

The apelido "Chico Me Dá" is distinctive and intriguing. "Chico" is a common Brazilian diminutive for Francisco, used widely among capoeiristas—the same naming pattern as Chico Três Pedaços and other famous figures. "Me Dá" means "Give me" in Portuguese. The full nickname "Give-Me Chico" or "Chico Give-Me" may have originated from a catchphrase the fighter used during rodas—perhaps challenging opponents to "give me" a fight, or demanding something from life. It could also reference a fighting style where he aggressively demanded the advantage, or even a personality trait of someone who was known for asking or taking. Pastinha noted that these old angoleiros' apelidos encoded information about their identities and fighting methods, though without additional documentation, the exact origin remains a mystery.

In the 1976 O Globo article about Pastinha's declining years, his students recalled the generation of "angoleiros de briga" (fighting angoleiros) that included Chico Me Dá: "Depois que Bimba morreu, só restou ele daquela geração de 'angoleiros' de briga" (After Bimba died, only he [Pastinha] remained from that generation of fighting angoleiros). This confirms that Chico Me Dá belonged to an era when capoeira was primarily a street fighting art, before the formalization into academies.

No further biographical details have survived—no teachers, students, specific incidents, or documented appearances. Chico Me Dá exists as a name on Pastinha's list of the fallen, a reminder that behind each apelido stood a life now largely forgotten. His inclusion among these legendary figures confirms his standing as one of the notable capoeiristas of Bahia during the golden age of capoeira de Angola.