Mestre Pastinha

Vincente Ferreira Pastinha (1889–1981), better known as Mestre Pastinha, is the predominant figure and the most important mestre in Capoeira Angola. Exposed to capoeira to learn how to defend himself from bullies when he was a child, Mestre Pastinha eventually became the leader of Capoeira Angola. Although other Angola mestres were his contemporaries, Mestre Pastinha is the largest and best known influence on the shape Capoeira Angola has taken today.

Mestre Pastinha is one of the most important Mestre's in the history of capoeira. In addition to capoeira, Mestre Pastinha did a little bit of everything. He was a sailor, a painter, a poet, a soccer player, a fencer, a shoe-shiner, a philosopher, a tailor, a security guard at a casino, a music composer, and as well as a capoeirista. Along with Mestre Bimba, he is one of the founding fathers of modern, contemporary capoeira.

Early life

"I was born for Capoeira, I love to play Capoeira, it's the only thing I will be left with when I die." — Mestre Pastinha

The son of José Señor Pastinha and Eugênia Maria de Carvalho, Pastinha was born in Salvador. As Pastinha explains it, his encounter with capoeira was through chance. Pastinha said that when he was about 10 years old, he was bullied by another, larger boy in the streets. One day, an old African man named Benedito observed Pastinha being bullied. Benedito said to Pastinha, "You can't beat him because he's larger and older." He told Pastinha to start visiting him at home noting, "I will teach you something of great value." When Pastinha met the boy in the street again, with one blow he defeated the larger kid and made him an admirer and friend.

Mestre of Capoeira Angola

"One day, I wrote everything that I think about capoeira on that plaque on the door of my Academy. On top, only three words: Angola, capoeira, mother. And underneath, the thought: 'The magic of slaves longing for liberty; its beginning has no method and its end is inconceivable to the wisest capoeirista.'"

At the inviation of Aberrê, Pastinha went to a Sunday roda at ladeira do Gengibirra in 1941. Here he met with some of the best capoeira mestres of the time. Aberrê was already famous in these rodas, and after spending the afternoon there, one of the greatest mestres of Bahia, Amorzinho, asked Pastinha to take charge of Capoeira Angola.

As a result, in 1942 Pastinha founded the first Angola school, the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola, located at the Pelourinho. His students would wear black pants and yellow T-shirts, the same color as the Ypiranga Clube, his favorite soccer club.

He participated with the Brazilian delegation of the "First International Festival de Artes Negras" in Dakar, Senegal (1966), bringing with him Mestres João Grande, João Pequeno, Gato Preto, Gildo Alfinete, Roberto Satanás and Camafeu de Oxossi.

Mestre Pastinha is known not only as a great capoeira player but also as a great teacher. His greatest power was his ability to think, philosophize, and communicat

e important principles about capoeira. Original in teaching methods and the practice of capoeira as an artistic expression, Pastinha formed a school that focused on physical, mental, and creative aspects of development of students.

Death

After being tricked out of leaving his academy, the depressed Mestre Pastinha said of his life doing capoeira, "This wood bench is all that I have. Today I am convinced that I was tricked. I gave it my all, but the truth is that I was used. No matter what, if I were to be born again, I would choose the same life: Capoeria."

After years of teaching capoeira in his academy, in 1973, at the age of 84, Pastinha was almost totally blind. The local government asked him to temporary vacate his building, his academy for 32 years, for rennovations. The space was never returned to him, instead turned into a restaurant. Pastinha, a bitter, broken man, suffered two strokes that left him blind and helpless. He died at the age of 93, in 1981.

Successors of Mestre Pastinha include many famous Mestres of capoeira Angola who are still alive and teaching today. They include Mestres such as João Grande, João Pequeno, Curió, Bola Sete, and many others that are still active today.