Mestre Gigante

Francisco de Assis, known as Mestre Gigante, was born on October 4, 1920, in Santo Amaro, Bahia—the same town that produced Besouro Mangangá, Cobrinha Verde, and generations of legendary capoeiristas. He lived for 95 years, becoming at the time of his death the oldest living capoeirista in the world.

He began learning capoeira in a backyard at Jardim Suspenso da Barra in Salvador, under Mestre Cobrinha Verde—the legendary figure who had learned from Besouro himself. Later, Gigante became a student of Mestre Pastinha at the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola. Then, in a move that showed the fluidity of the early capoeira world, he "changed parties" and went to train at Mestre Bimba's Regional academy. This cross-lineage experience gave him unique insight into both traditions.

Gigante was closely associated with Menino Gordo da Curva Grande—so closely that sources note they "looked very similar" and were often confused with each other. They were "parceiros" (partners/companions) in the Salvador capoeira scene.

He began his teaching career at the Seminário Central and later founded his own academy, "Academia Capoeira São Gonçalo", headquartered in the Federação neighborhood of Salvador.

Mestre Bimba himself considered Gigante "the best berimbau player in Bahia"—high praise from the founder of Regional. His musical mastery led to the creation of a distinctive berimbau rhythm called "Cinco Salomão", which he described as being for "jogo miudinho, embaixo, jogo miudinho no chão, só embaixo" (the small game, low, the small game on the ground, only low). According to Waldeloir Rego's 1968 research, the Cinco Salomão rhythm was "performed when there is a crime among capoeiristas, so that the criminal can escape". The name derives from "Signo Salomão" (Solomon's Seal/Star), the five-pointed star used in protective amulets.

In June 1980, Gigante participated in researcher Frede Abreu's landmark "First Regional Capoeira Seminar and Festival of Capoeira Rhythms", held June 4-8 in Barris, Salvador. This event, attended by some 1,500 people, reunited the old guard of Capoeira Angola—Mestre Cobrinha Verde (who was "rediscovered" at this event), Mestre João Grande, Mestre Curió, Mestre Eziquiel, and others. It was a pivotal moment for the revival of traditional capoeira.

Throughout the 1940s and beyond, Gigante conviveu (lived alongside) with the famous capoeiristas of that era: Aberrê, Noronha, Barbosa, Traíra, Najé, and many others. He was a regular presence at the Sunday rodas at Lar das Pombas and at the Jardim Baiano in Barra.

In the 1950s, Gigante appears in photographs by the legendary photographers Pierre Verger and Marcel Gautherot—visual documentation of Salvador's capoeira scene during its golden age. In 1964, he also appears in photographs together with Mestre Pastinha. In 1968, he participated in the film "Dança de Guerra" (War Dance), playing berimbau, and was also noted to have participated in the film "Os Cangaceiros".

Besides being an exceptional musician, Gigante was renowned as a skilled storyteller and seresteiro (serenade singer) who "doesn't reject a good guitar to sing and recall the adventures of the past". In 2007, he recorded the CD "O Canto do Berimbauman" (The Song of the Berimbau Man), a project by researcher and writer Frede Abreu (who died in 2013). According to Frede himself, the disc presented the "perfection of Gigante's berimbau playing".

Francisco de Assis, Mestre Gigante, died on May 30, 2016, at Hospital Teresa de Lisieux in Salvador after losing a battle with a respiratory infection. He was 95 years old. Despite being one of the most important names in capoeira—an art that in 2014 received the title of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity—Gigante died in poverty. The capoeira community and family members had to pool money to pay for his funeral. His body was buried at Cemitério Campo Santo in Salvador. His fate echoed that of other great masters like Bimba, Pastinha, Waldemar, and Cobrinha Verde—legendary figures who ended their lives without proper governmental recognition or support.