Antônio Gonçalves de Mello — Mestre Mello (Melo)
4 June 1920, Minas Gerais – 1990, São Paulo

Mestre Mello helped give São Paulo’s capoeira its backbone. Born in Minas Gerais to a Bahian father and a Minas-born mother, he carried a broad movementvocabulary—judo, Greco-Roman wrestling, frevo, samba de gafieira—thathe later braided into his capoeira. People of his time called him a caboclo cor de bronze, a way of saying he embodied Brazil’s mixed cultural roots. Strong legs, stamina, and a mandingueiro mind made him stand out in any roda.

Arriving in São Paulo in the late 1940s, Mello found in Mestre Zé de Freitas both a guide and a partner. He learned Capoeira Angola under Zé, and in return taught Zé judo—atrue exchange of arts that shaped the city’s early scene. From those hallway rodas and club sessions grew a network of teachers, students, and spaces that would define capoeira paulista.

Mello’s legacy is institutional as much as personal. He helped co-found the Federação Paulista de Capoeira (with Mestre Onça/Airton Neves Moura) and was involved in Grupo Angolinha, bringing structure, events, and recognition to a practice that had often lived at the margins. In the roda he was direct and charismatic