José de Freitas — Mestre Zé de Freitas
29 April 1926, Macaquinhos, BA – 3 May 2014, Alagoinhas, BA

Mestre Zé de Freitas helped plant capoeira in São Paulo when it was still whispered and watched. He began in 1946 with Mestre Caiçara, who soon introduced him to Mestre Waldemar Rodrigues da Paixão (o Poeta). From Waldemar he learned that the roda is music first, respect always, and that style is nothing without character.

At the end of the 1950s he moved to the terra da garoa. Capoeira was still restricted, so he started where there was room: a narrow boarding-house corridor in Móoca, three by two meters, a space just big enough for a ginga and a song. From there he carried the work to the CMTC Club, one of the places where capoeira paulista truly took form in public view. What began in a hallway became a movement in the city’s center and southeast.

Freitas formed players who would become references in their ownright—Mestre Pinatti, Mestre Joel, Mestre Mello, Mestre Serginho, and Mestre Dulcídio. In Sapopemba he founded the Associação de Lutas Unidas Capoeira Freitas, the school that today lives on under Mestre Dulcídio’s care. His path also touched Brazilian popular culture. He acted in TV soap operas, worked security for comedian Manoel da Nóbrega, and even helped train Pelé for the 1972 film A Marcha de Chico Bondade.

He returned to Bahia in 1999, but stayed close to the community. In 2007 he appeared in the documentary Reunião dos 9, a project to preserve the memory of São Paulo’s early rodas. Two years later the city honored him with a tribute event and a recorded DVD.

Mestre Zé de Freitas passed in 2014, and the drizzle city still carries his imprint. The story is simple and strong. A hallway. A club. A stubborn belief that capoeira belongs to everyone. The teachers who shaped him stand behind his name, and the generations he formed carry it forward.

Selected milestones

• 1926 — Born in Macaquinhos, Bahia

• 1946 — Begins training with Caiçara, later becomes a disciple of Waldemar

• Late 1950s — Moves to São Paulo and starts teaching in Móoca

• CMTC Club era — Helps launch capoeira paulista in the city

• 1962 — Founds Associação de Lutas Unidas Capoeira Freitas in Sapopemba

• 1972 — Trains Pelé for A Marcha de Chico Bondade

• 1999 — Returns to Bahia

• 2007 — Appears in Reunião dos 9

• 2009 — Tribute event and DVD in São Paulo

• 2014 — Dies in Alagoinhas, Bahia