Mestre Ananias

Ananias Ferreira was born on October 4, 1924, in São Félix, Bahia—a town in the Recôncavo Baiano region that lives and breathes the African force in Brazilian soil, offering capoeira, samba, and Candomblé as foundational pillars of culture. Son of samba player João Ferreira de Souza and Joventina dos Santos Ferreira, young Ananias grew up immersed in Afro-Brazilian traditions.

In 1938, at age fourteen, he began learning capoeira in the rodas organized by Mestre Juvêncio, a dock worker who held informal gatherings on the docks of São Félix during the festivals of Igreja de São Deus Menino and Senhor São Félix. As Ananias later recalled: "Juvêncio was the mestre. He was a dock worker who did capoeira on the docks of São Félix... Nobody taught classes, but the real master was Juvêncio, everyone got together and played".

These rodas gathered remarkable practitioners: João de Zazá, the brothers Toy and Roxinho, the brothers Alvelino and Santos from Muritiba, Caial, Café, and Estevão—a factory guard at the "Letialvi" cigar factory whom Ananias remembered as having "capoeira perversa" (vicious capoeira). A young Traíra from nearby Cachoeira also attended these gatherings. At age fourteen, Ananias said, "you start to feel capoeira in your blood".

In 1942, Ananias moved to Salvador and settled in the Liberdade neighborhood. From 1942 to 1946, he trained with Mestre Canjiquinha in the space of Mestre Pastinha, playing in Pastinha's bateria during street rodas alongside Mestre Gato Preto. From 1946 to 1953, he trained with Mestre Waldemar at the legendary Barracão in Liberdade's Corta-Braço area. During this period, he trained alongside the great names: Pastinha, Nagé, Onça Preta, Noronha, Dorival (Waldemar's brother), Traíra, Cobrinha Verde, Bugalho, Zacaria, Bom Cabelo, and Mucungê. Waldemar eventually gave him the position of contra-mestre de bateria after rigorous testing by the mestres.

In 1953, everything changed. Theater producers Wilson and Sérgio Maia came to Corta-Braço seeking capoeiristas for the São Paulo theater scene. Ananias, along with Evaristo Martins Vieira, Jonas Ferreira dos Santos, and Adão Felix Reis, traveled to "the land of drizzle" (a terra da garoa—São Paulo). Upon arriving, Ananias founded the Associação de Capoeira Angola Senhor do Bonfim and established the legendary Sunday roda at Praça da República—a tradition that would endure for over sixty years.

In São Paulo, Ananias collaborated with theatrical giants including playwright Plínio Marcos and poet Solano Trindade. In 1960, he appeared in the first production of "O Pagador de Promessas" at Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC), directed by Flávio Rangel. The play's 1962 film adaptation by Anselmo Duarte won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Ananias contributed to the film's soundtrack. He continued in theater, appearing in "Balbina de Iansã" (1970) and "Jesus Homem" (1980), both written by Plínio Marcos.

Throughout his life, Ananias served as an Ogã—a ceremonial leader in Candomblé de Angola. He saw capoeira, samba de roda, and Candomblé as inseparable expressions of African heritage in Brazil. He learned samba from his father and old Bahian musicians in candomblé temples and samba rodas.

In 1979, Ananias appeared on Mestre Joel's LP alongside Dadinho and João Bráz. At age 80 in 2004, he recorded his first capoeira CD, "Original Ao Vivo", with his disciples. In 2007, at 83, he released a samba de roda CD with Grupo Garoa do Recôncavo—a group formed by his disciples that presented the traditional hard samba of the Recôncavo Baiano. In 2009, he was featured in the documentary "Cantador de Chula".

The Praça da República became an institution. For over fifty years, every Sunday, capoeiristas from all styles—Angola, Regional, Contemporânea—gathered at his roda. Mestres Suassuna, Camisa, Moraes, and countless others passed through. In the early 1990s, disciples who had formed in this roda created the Casa Mestre Ananias—Centro Paulistano de Capoeira e Tradições Baianas, located on Rua Conselheiro Ramalho in the Bixiga neighborhood. Contramestre Rafael trained directly under him, and Rodrigo Minhoca, who spent from 1995 until Ananias's death learning from him, now leads the Casa.

In a 2005 interview, at age 81, Ananias reflected on what capoeira requires: "Be dedicated in order to learn everything in capoeira, from the instruments to the game". He lamented modern practice: contemporary capoeira was "all slow" and lacked respect for capoeira angola, which "should be low and high, a lively game". He admired practitioners like Nagé, Onça Preta, Maré, Traíra, Bom Cabelo, Zacarias, and Caiçara—the latter described as "devilishly good".

Mestre Ananias died on July 21, 2016, in Bela Vista, São Paulo, at age 91. His velório was held at Casa Mestre Ananias, and he was buried at Cemitério Carmosina in Itaquera. He is remembered as the father of São Paulo capoeira—a guardian of authentic Bahian traditions who brought the full breadth of Afro-Brazilian culture from the Recôncavo to the metropolis.