Mestre Artur Emídio

Artur Emídio de Oliveira was born on March 31, 1930, in Itabuna, southern Bahia, where his parents worked as farmers. He grew up in a modest house on Rua Direita in the Pontalzinho neighborhood and completed secondary school there. At age seven, in a time when capoeira was prohibited by law and considered a criminal offense, he began learning "in the street, on the pavement" from his master Teodoro Ramos, known as Paizinho, who would wake him at six each morning to train. Paizinho was a disciple of Mestre Neném, a capoeirista of African origin.

In his own recounting: "The practice of Capoeira was prohibited. They trained on top of hills, in alleyways, at night and always hidden. Many were the times that my Master was arrested. But the next day the bail was paid, and he would leave. And at night, he would return to teach Capoeira, practiced for love!"

When Paizinho died in 1945, the fifteen-year-old Artur took over his master's academy. Despite his youth, he began teaching Paizinho's former students and quickly gained recognition, even receiving visiting students from Salvador. Various legends surrounded Paizinho's death - some claimed he died trying to fly from a coconut tree using palm leaves as wings, like Icarus. According to Artur Emídio, Paizinho actually died of meningitis.

By his early twenties, Artur delighted audiences at circuses and amusement parks in Itabuna with "luta livre" demonstrations. His ambition was to showcase "the value of the national fight" - capoeira. In 1953, he left Itabuna for São Paulo to fight Edgar Duro, a luta livre fighter, and won. On June 29, 1953, he faced Rudolf Hermanny, a student of Mestre Sinhozinho, in a bout fought under Burlamaqui's capoeira rules with groundwork modifications. Hermanny's aggression proved decisive - he knocked Artur down multiple times with kicks, landed a rasteira, and delivered a decisive stomp. The referee stopped the fight before a full knockout.

In 1954, Artur traveled to Rio de Janeiro to fight Hélio Gracie in a match that ended in a draw. After his defeat to Hermanny, he frequented the Gracie academy in Rio and learned jiu-jitsu techniques to complement his capoeira. In 1955, he moved permanently to Rio de Janeiro with his family.

In Rio, Artur established his school above the Rio Novo pharmacy, where he also worked as a masseur - famously treating Miss Brazil contestant Martha Rocha in 1954. He then founded the Academia de Capoeira Artur Emídio on Rua Manuel Fontenele, near Higienópolis in the Bonsucesso neighborhood - one of the first formal capoeira academies in the city.

The most celebrated fight of his ring career came on April 13, 1957 (some sources say April 10), against Robson Gracie at Maracanãzinho. Artur had declared he would "do with Robson what Waldemar did with Hélio", showing confidence in capoeira's effectiveness. The Diário Carioca reported that Artur was "brought to the ground at the very beginning" and subjected to "strangling from behind". The fight lasted only four minutes before Robson's submission victory.

After this defeat, friends encouraged him to focus on teaching. His first student was Djalma Bandeira, who became a travel companion with whom Artur refined his skills. The Sunday roda at his academy became legendary - a meeting point where mestres from all over Brazil congregated. As Mestre Paulão recalled: "Masters from all over Brazil came to the roda of Artur Emídio... here the suburbs, the northern and the southern zones congregated, it was an eclectic capoeira". Excellent berimbau players like Mestres Paraná and Mucungê joined his orchestra.

With his student Djalma Bandeira, Artur performed in the folkloric show "Skindô". The cultural entrepreneur Abraham Medina engaged them for a show featuring the romantic singer Nelson Gonçalves that toured New York, Paris, Acapulco, and Buenos Aires. Artur Emídio is likely the first capoeirista to perform abroad, pioneering capoeira in the United States, France, Uruguay, and Argentina during the 1950s and early 1960s. Other famous shows included "Capital Samba" and the musical "Arco-Íris", featuring artists like Joãozinho da Goméia, Ary Barroso, and Mestre Paraná.

From the 1960s onward, Artur abandoned the ring and dedicated himself exclusively to capoeira. He gave displays throughout Rio, judged competitions including the famous Berimbau de Ouro, and became involved with the Cariocan Federation of Pugilism, which began institutionalizing capoeira. In 1987, he participated in an event with Bahian old masters at Circo Voador in Rio. In 1967, he and Mestre Bimba were photographed together at a capoeira symposium at Campos dos Afonsos in Rio - Artur later spoke of their "somewhat conflictual relationship".

He trained many students who became important masters: Leopoldina (from ~1954), Djalma Bandeira, Paulo Gomes, Mendonça, Celso do Engenho da Rainha, Vilela, Vilmar, and Roberval Serejo. Mestre Paulo Gomes, also from Itabuna, later founded ABRACAP (Capoeira Association of Brazil) in 1985 and advised São Paulo Governor Mário Covas on capoeira legislation.

Artur Emídio was part of a generation born in the 1930s that formed the core of contemporary Rio de Janeiro capoeira, alongside Leopoldina, Mário Buscapé, Djalma Bandeira, Roque, Paulo Gomes, and Celso do Engenho. There is consensus that four lineages were the main influences on Contemporary Capoeira in Rio: Artur Emídio, Paraná, Mário Buscapé, and Roque.

An arthrosis in his left knee eventually prevented him from continuing to play and teach. He died on the afternoon of May 3, 2011, in Rio de Janeiro, at age 81. Portal Capoeira's death notice declared: "Rio de Janeiro's capoeira lost its greatest personality". The old guard of capoeira, in Rio and Bahia, knew that Artur was one of the greatest talents of all time. As his contemporaries said: "He did for capoeira what, to this day, all of us together still have not done".

A documentary film "From the Ring to the Stage" about his life, directed by Roberto Pereira and Ricardo Pereira, began recording in 2018 and was completed in 2023. Masters Genaro (1934-2022) and Polaco (1949-2021) provided testimonies before their deaths.