Mestre Roque

Roque Mendes dos Santos was born in 1938 in Cachoeira, in the Recôncavo Baiano, and raised in the Nazaré neighborhood of Salvador. His father was Liberato Francisco Xavier, known as Chico Preto, a capoeirista who operated a fish stand at the famous Modelo Market. His uncle was Zé Bedeu, another capoeirista who fathered and trained Marco Buscapé.

Roque began learning capoeira as a child in 1948, at age ten. His first teacher was a tailor who lived on Peru hill near Largo do Tanque—a friend of his father. Through his father's connections at the Modelo Market, young Roque socialized with many of the famous capoeiristas of the time: Gajé, Índio, Tatu Bola, Bom Cabrito, Boca de Fumaça, Traíra, and Canjiquinha. He claims to have learned a great deal from Cobrinha Verde and asserts that his lineage descends from Tio Alípio through Besouro, continuing with Cobrinha Verde.

He also learned to play berimbau from Mucungê, another Bahian migrant in Rio who was renowned for his skills on the instrument.

Roque enlisted in the Navy and arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1956. After leaving military service, he settled in the city, living in various poor neighborhoods, mainly in Pavão/Pavãozinho in the Zona Sul between Ipanema and Copacabana. He began teaching capoeira initially in Catumbi, then moved to the Neighbourhood Association of Pavão/Pavãozinho.

On July 21, 1960, together with fellow Bahian angoleiros Mucungê, Dois de Ouro, Baleado, Onça Preta, and Imagem do Cão, Roque co-founded Grupo Filhos de Angola—becoming a pioneer in the teaching of capoeira in the favelas of Rio's Zona Sul. His academy at Morro do Pavãozinho served mainly poor residents of the Pavão and Cantagalo hills, though some surfers also trained there.

His group took part in tournaments and competitions that helped disseminate capoeira, including the Berimbau de Ouro (1967). Filhos de Angola performed in folkloric exhibitions such as "Uma Noite na Bahia" (A Night in Bahia), inspired by the festas for patron saints in Salvador. Roque also joined the folkloric group Capoeiras do Bonfim of Mário Buscapé and played berimbau in the Rio staging of "O Pagador de Promessas" by Dias Gomes.

After teaching for twelve years in Pavão/Pavãozinho, Roque gave classes at Praia do Pinto, Praça Mauá, Jacarepaguá, the Petrobras Refinery in Caxias, and São João de Meriti. His final academy was located in Vilar do Teles.

Roque formed numerous mestres who continue his lineage: Adilson (Camisa Preta), Sandrinha, Poeira, Paulo Siqueira, Derli, Lapinha, Cosme, and many others. Mestra Sandrinha, who began training with him as a ten-year-old girl in Pavãozinho in the 1970s, is recognized as possibly the first female capoeira mestra in Brazil. Mestre Paulo Siqueira went on to establish the Escola de Capoeira Nzinga in Germany in 1985, becoming a pioneer of capoeira in Europe.

Roque is considered one of the four founding lineages of contemporary capoeira in Rio de Janeiro, alongside Artur Emídio, Paraná, and Mário Buscapé. As M. Levi stated, these four "started to work in closed spaces of academies, introduced uniforms, organisation, etc. From these four the majority of capoeira masters here in Rio de Janeiro derived".

As of 2018, Roque was still alive, giving interviews and testimonies for cultural preservation projects like the MIS RJ series "Memória da Capoeira".