Mário Rodrigues Ferreira do Rosário — Mestre Mário Bom Cabrito
13 March 1944 – 22 May 2000

Born on 13 March 1944, Mário Rodrigues Ferreira do Rosário grew up in the orbit of great Bahia mestres and found his own measure inside the circle. In the 1950s he began training with Mestre Cobrinha Verde and Mestre Gato Preto, learning that timing, song, and respect come before speed. Their influence set the base he would carry for life.

By 1963 he appears in Hilkka Rautavaara’s photos from Gato Preto’s academy, a rare visual record that places him inside one of the most vibrant rooms of Capoeira Angola in Salvador. A few years later he stepped beyond capoeira to test himself. In 1968 he trained karate, hapkido, and vale-tudo at Waldemar Santana’s academy. The experience did not replace Angola. It sharpened his balance, distance, and calm.

In 1993 he affiliated with the Associação Brasileira de Capoeira Angola (ABCA) through his Centro Cultural de Capoeira Angola Arte e Manha, based in Alto das Pombas, in the Federação neighborhood. The work was steady. Classes, rodas, guidance for younger players, and a careful guard over tradition. In 1998 he joined an ABCA gathering at the Abolition Museum in Olinda, another sign that his work belonged to a larger effort to protect and project Capoeira Angola.

Mestre Bom Cabrito passed on 22 May 2000. He is remembered as a student of giants who became a reference in his own right. His path links Cobrinha Verde and Gato Preto to a new generation that looked to him for cadence and measure. Where the berimbau calls and the circle listens, his name still travels.

Selected milestones

• 1944 — Born on 13 March

• 1950s — Trains with Cobrinha Verde and Gato Preto

• 1963 — Appears in H. Rautavaara’s photos at Gato Preto’s academy

• 1968 — Cross-trains karate, hapkido, and vale-tudo with Waldemar Santana

• 1993 — Affiliates to ABCA with Centro Cultural de Capoeira Angola Arte e Manha (Alto das Pombas, Federação)

• 1998 — Participates in ABCA event at the Abolition Museum in Olinda

• 2000 — Dies on 22 May