Nilton Moraes Paes (16 Oct 1937 – before 1979)
Massaranduba • Ribeira • Uruguai • Jardim Cruzeiro — Salvador, BA

First-born of a large Moraes Paesfamily—19 children in all, 14 boys and 5 girls—Niltongrew into capoeira the way many from Salvador’s Lower City did: by proximity, by neighborhood, by the morning light on a square. He first learned with Ninho of Ribeira, playing and training in rodas at Argolo Square, the small crossroads between Massaranduba and Jardim Cruzeiro.

Soon the circle widened. Nilton and his brother Cutica (Índio, Nelson Moraes Paes, 1941–26 Dec 1970) studied with Pierrô, and together they carried their berimbaus the shortwalk—not even a kilometer—to Uruguai, where they trained under Mestre Zeca do Uruguai. That triad ofteachers—Ninho, Pierrô, Zeca—gaveNilton a spine of rhythm, cunning(mandinga), and neighborhood style that still marks the Lower City lineage.

Nilton wasn’t the only capoeirista in the family. His younger brother Fernando Olímpio PaesFilho—Fernandinho/Mano (26 Mar 1948 – 5 May 2001), later known in Rio—learnedfirst with Nilton, then rose to contra-mestre under Caiçara (his diploma signed by Silvestre, also a contra-mestre of Caiçara). In that way, Nilton’s lessons traveled: from Argolo Square to Uruguai, and eventually down the coast to Rio, braided into new songs and new rodas.

The records around Nilton’s passing arebrief—“before 1979”—butthe trace he left is clear: a brother who taught a brother, a student who crossed neighborhoods on foot to seek a mestre, a first-born who helped set a family rhythm that outlived him. In the story of Salvador’s capoeira, Nilton is abridge—from Massaranduba’s doorstep to Zeca’s yard, from local roda to lasting lineage.