•  Death of Mestre Bimba will not end capoeira 
    10th March of 1974
    Diário de Pernambuco


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    M Waldemar, 10/03/1974


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      Waldemar de Berimbau

      Any visitor who arrives in the Pero Vaz neighborhood will be taken to see Mestre Waldemar de Berimbau. Also called Mestre Waldemar de Pero Vaz. Arriving at the small market which is located there it's only to turn left, walk about a hundred meters and before arriving at the mechanic's shop, go down a little clay hill. From the you already identify the house. A stack of sticks, tens of cans of paint and a roll of rope say that it's there the Mestre lives.

      He was famous. Jorge Amado, Mário Cravo, Caribé and others took to his house tourists who wanted to get to know capoeira up close. Capoeira shown by a mestre. One day, in 1940 (he doesn't remember too well..) he learned to make berimbaus. He abandoned the exhibitions. After all the fight for survival requires sacrifices. But he still does his moves and cuts...

      About Mestre Bimba, he says:

      - He was a Mestre. He will be missed. But his death will not shake the valorization of the art. There are other mestres.

      He remembers that Bimba was a Mestre of Angola. He created his school, mixing jiu-jitsu and free-fight kicks. For this his capoeira is called Regional.

      - But as defense, the Angola version is a more positive, since it has more malice. The "Tiny Tooth of Angola", for example, is a mortal kick: you kick with the chest of the foot on the neck of your buddy...

      Waldemar Rodrigues da Paixão, this is his name, says that he can't complain about capoeira as a means of life. Thanks to the berimbaus that he makes (around 100 a day) he lives well, with family.

      - How much does one cost?

      - Around Cr$ 7 thousand.


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