Mestre Espinho Remoso — Elízio Maximiano Ferreira
1910, Teixeira de Freitas, Bahia – 1960, Salvador • Capoeira Angola

Born Elízio Maximiano Ferreira, the capoeirista later known as Mestre Espinho Remoso learned his craft in Santo Amaro while working in the sugar mills. There he met Mestre Cassarangongo (Antônio Elói dos Santos) at Engenho da Pindoba, a friendship that continued when Elízio moved on to Salvador. Work in the cane fields shaped his body and his game. Evenings were for rodas, music, and the slow building of a name that would travel.

His nickname has a story that capoeiristas still tell. During a game in Santo Amaro, a thorn pierced his knee while Tiodé da Quibaca watched from the side. Tiodé pulled the thorn, then tapped the knee and the tip came free into his palm. From that day, he called Elízio Espinho Remoso, a name linked to something stubborn and irritating, like a lingering ache. The name fit the player. Short, powerful, and precise. A Black man of strong build. A practitioner of Candomblé, as remembered by his son Virgílio.

In Retiro, Salvador, Espinho Remoso sold clothing and built a capoeira hub at Jaqueira do Carneiro in Fazenda Grande do Retiro. The roda there drew heavyweights of the 1950s like Mestre Waldemar, Mestre Paulo dos Anjos, and Zacarias Boa Morte. His reputation also ran through Liberdade, where newspapers counted him among the standouts alongside Traíra, Valdemar, Cabeça de Bagre, and Bimba. He taught a wide circle of students, including Diogo, Fulô, Florzinho, Valdir, Loriano da Boca do Rio, Gerônimo, Raimundo, Antônio Catarino, Dario do Pandeiro, Buiu, Florisvaldo, Moisés, Valdomiro, Chico Zoião, and Firmino.

Family life ran alongside the roda. With Edite Isabel dos Santos, he had his son Virgílio, who began capoeira with his father in 1954 and later continued with Mestre Paulo dos Anjos and Mestre Caiçara, becoming Mestre Virgílio da Fazenda Grande. Espinho Remoso also shared a home with Dona Epifania, with whom he had Valdir. When he passed in 1960 at age fifty, Mestre Diogo helped organize the funeral at Dona Epifania’s house. The roda at Jaqueira do Carneiro did not stop. It remained a meeting point and later was carried forward by Virgílio, keeping his father’s cadence alive.

Legacy
Espinho Remoso stands in the history of Capoeira Angola as a bridge between mill hands and city masters, between Santo Amaro and the neighborhoods of Salvador. His style mixed work-hardened strength with musical discipline. His students and his son’s generation kept that blend moving. Memory of the man remains where the berimbau calls and the circle obeys.