Mestre Cobra Mansa

Cinézio Feliciano Peçanha was born on May 19, 1960, in Duque de Caxias, a city near Rio de Janeiro. His childhood was marked by struggle—he worked as a street performer doing acrobatic tricks to survive. As a circus street vendor at Circo Picolino, he developed the physical skills that would later define his capoeira.

In 1973, at thirteen years old, he began learning capoeira in his neighborhood with Josias da Silva and Raimundo. He played in the Duque de Caxias street rodas and co-founded the Caxias Street Roda with Rogerio Russo and Peixinho de Caxias—a roda that continues to this day.

In 1974, everything changed. Cobra Mansa witnessed Mestre Moraes play in the Roda of Central Brazil and was so captivated that he became his student. This relationship would define his trajectory. He followed Moraes when the mestre went to Belo Horizonte, where Cobra Mansa worked as a police officer for two years (1979-1981).

In 1981, Cobra Mansa accompanied Moraes to Salvador, where together they founded the Grupo de Capoeira Angola Pelourinho (GCAP). This was a crucial moment: Capoeira Angola was in severe decline following Pastinha's death that same year. The art form was seen as something for elderly men. The arrival of these young, energetic practitioners revitalized the community.

In the mid-1980s, Cobra Mansa and Moraes accomplished something remarkable: they convinced Mestre João Grande to return to teaching after he had withdrawn from capoeira following Pastinha's death. This intervention helped preserve a direct lineage to the old mestres. In 1986, Moraes graduated Cobra Mansa to the rank of Mestre.

In 1993, Cobra Mansa earned a degree in Physical Education from the Catholic University of Salvador. The following year, on invitation from the Ausar Auset Society—an organization promoting African culture—he moved to Washington, D.C. to teach Capoeira Angola to children. What was meant to be a six-month stay extended as his classes grew in popularity, spreading to George Washington University (where he became adjunct professor), Mount Rainier's Joe's Movement Emporium, and Gold's Gym in Van Ness.

After philosophical differences with Moraes over the direction of GCAP, Cobra Mansa departed in 1995-1996 and founded the International Capoeira Angola Foundation (FICA) with Mestre Jurandir Nascimento and Mestre Valmir Damasceno. FICA became the largest Capoeira Angola organization in the world, with affiliates across the United States, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

In 2004, Cobra Mansa returned to Brazil and established Kilombo Tenondé, an eco-cultural center with sites in Coutos (Salvador) and Valença, Bahia. The project combines his dual passions: capoeira and permaculture. He obtained his Permaculture Design Certificate in 2007 and has worked in agroecology, bioconstruction, and agroforestry.

From 2010 to 2013, he participated in a major research project on the Angolan roots of capoeira, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. He traveled to Angola and Mozambique to study the n'golo martial art and other African traditions that may have contributed to capoeira's development. This research produced the documentary "Jogo de Corpo: Capoeira e Ancestralidade" (2013), which he co-directed with Matthias Assunção and Richard Pakleppa. The film won six international awards, including the Ousmane Sembene Development Film Award at the Zanzibar International Film Festival.

In 2019, he completed his PhD at the Federal University of Bahia with a thesis titled "Gingando na linha da Kalunga: Capoeira Angola, Engolo e a construção da Ancestralidade" (Gingando on the Kalunga Line: Capoeira Angola, Engolo and the Building of Ancestrality).

In 2023, Cobra Mansa officially joined Mukânda Capoeira Angola, a collective founded by his former students, and began establishing an affiliate group in Bonfim, Bahia.