Menino Gordo

Menino Gordo da Curva Grande was an early twentieth-century capoeirista from Salvador, Bahia, who taught in the Curva Grande neighborhood of the city's Centro Histórico. His apelido ("Fat Boy" or "Chubby Kid") was a common nickname in Brazilian culture.

He is documented as one of three teachers who instructed young Gaguinho Preto (Everaldo Arcanjo de Assis, 1934-2002) starting when the child was just four years old, around 1938. According to velhosmestres.com, Gaguinho Preto "learned with Menino Gordo da Curva Grande, with Roque and Victor H.U., passing by Pastinha's CECA and Zeca do Uruguai". The neighborhood of Curva Grande, part of Salvador's historic center, had established capoeira activity since at least 1917, when Mestre Noronha documented a roda there.

In 1953, when the young João Grande arrived in Salvador at age twenty and witnessed his first proper capoeira roda at Roça do Lobo (near the bridge connecting Tororó to Garcia), Menino Gordo was among the important personalities present. Also at that historic gathering were João Pequeno, Mestre Barbosa, Cobrinha Verde, Tiburcinho, and Manoel Carregador. It was this encounter that would eventually lead João Grande to Mestre Pastinha's academy and his destiny as one of the principal heirs of the Angola tradition.

Menino Gordo was closely associated with Mestre Gigante, and sources note they were often confused with each other because they "looked very similar" and were "parceiros" (partners/companions). This suggests they were contemporaries who played and perhaps taught together in Salvador's capoeira circles.

Nothing is known of Menino Gordo's full name, his teachers, or when he died. Like many early mestres who operated outside the formal academy structure, his legacy survives primarily through the oral testimony of those he taught and played alongside.