Mestre Paulinho Salmon

Paulinho Salmon is a veteran capoeira mestre from Rio de Janeiro with more than fifty years dedicated to the art of capoeiragem. His journey in capoeira spans from the formative years of the 1960s through to his role as a guardian of capoeira heritage in the twenty-first century.

In 1966, Paulinho Salmon, together with Mestre Euclides Paes, trained José Maria da Silva (later known as Mestre Zé Maria) in the Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The two mestres transmitted what was described as the famous secret of the "Pulo do Gato" (Cat's Leap)—a technique whose exact nature remains undisclosed but whose name suggests acrobatic agility and feline quickness. Both Salmon and Euclides Paes were associated with the Grupo Capoeira da Guanabara, where Zé Maria graduated as an instructor in 1967.

When Salmon and Euclides Paes discontinued their training activities for work-related reasons, they authorized Zé Maria to continue teaching in their place—a gesture that demonstrates the confidence they placed in their student and the informal succession patterns common in that era of capoeira transmission.

In the twenty-first century, Paulinho Salmon emerged as a voice for capoeira heritage preservation. He became a member of a committee of capoeira mestres in Rio de Janeiro that works with IPHAN (Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional) to discuss safeguarding measures for capoeira as cultural heritage. When interviewed by Agência Brasil in November 2014, ahead of UNESCO's recognition of the Roda de Capoeira as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Salmon articulated the depth of capoeira's significance: "Capoeira is not just a game—capoeira is much more than that. The history of capoeira is intertwined with the history of Brazil itself. It was even used in warfare, such as the Paraguayan War".

The requests and recommendations of the mestres' committee—including Salmon's input—were incorporated into the UNESCO candidacy dossier. Their proposals included making capoeira a mandatory school subject and establishing knowledge-exchange meetings among practitioners.

In 2016, Paulinho Salmon served as editor for the memoir of Mestre Mário Buscapé (Mário dos Santos), titled "A saga de uma lenda viva" (The Saga of a Living Legend), published by Azougue in Rio de Janeiro. Mário Buscapé was one of the four founding lineages of contemporary capoeira in Rio de Janeiro, having established the Grupo Bonfim in 1953. Salmon's editorial work on this memoir demonstrates his commitment to documenting and preserving the oral histories of Rio de Janeiro's capoeira pioneers.

In May 2013, Paulinho Salmon traveled to Ecuador alongside his former student Mestre Zé Maria. There, the two mestres together awarded the mestre cord (white cord) to Henry Vizcarra (Mestre Carvão) and Marco Herrera (Mestre Perninha)—demonstrating the continuation of lineage across generations and continents. This ceremony represented the transmission of mestre status to the second generation of Ecuadorian capoeiristas, as both Carvão and Perninha had been trained by Zé Maria, who had in turn been trained by Paulinho Salmon.