Gildo Lemos Couto — Mestre Gildo Alfinete
16 Jan 1940, Salvador (Tororó) – 12 Oct 2015, Salvador

Mestre Gildo Alfinete came to Capoeira Angola through the front door of Pelourinho. In 1959 a friend led him up to number 19, where Mestre Pastinha taught. The room gave him a compass he kept for life. Ginga first. Mandinga with measure. Learn the rest in the roda.

He earned his capoeirista diploma in 1963 and soon stood among Pastinha’s closest students. In 1966 he traveled with the Bahian delegation to the First World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar with Pastinha, Camafeu de Oxóssi, Gato Preto, João Grande, and Roberto Satanás. Gildo played, watched, and wrote. Many of his notes were scribbled on whatever paper was at hand. Years later those scraps would become part of the record of Angola itself.

Alfinete was a connector more than a headline. In 1968 he floated the idea for the folk group Ganga Zumba. He taught in Salvador for over forty years, often without a formal academy of his own, preferring to carry Pastinha’s philosophy into any room willing to listen. He stood with elders and peers across decades, then helped refound the ABCA on 18 July 1993, putting structure around a tradition that had been passed hand to hand.

He loved the music as much as the game. In photos and recordings you catch him leaning into a ladainha, letting the chorus rise, letting the berimbau lead. He spoke often about beauty in the low game, about a loose style that hides discipline, about Angola as knowledge and freedom.

After his passing, his family uncovered a trove of more than 3,000 photographs and a handwritten notebook with Pastinha’s teachings. His brother Genésio “Meio-Quilo” gathered that material into the 2020 book “Capoeira Angola Mundo Afora – Uma Jornada com o Mestre Pastinha.” It is a reminder of what Gildo guarded so carefully. Not just a way to move, but a way to remember.

Selected milestones

• 1940 — Born in Tororó, Salvador

• 1959 — Begins Capoeira Angola with Mestre Pastinha at Pelourinho 19

• 1963 — Receives capoeirista diploma from Pastinha

• 1966 — Travels to Dakar for the First World Festival of Black Arts with the Bahian delegation

• 1968 — Conceives the Ganga Zumba folk group idea

• 1993 — Helps refound the ABCA (18 July)

• 2015 — Dies in Salvador (12 October)

Where the berimbau calls and the circle answers, Mestre Gildo Alfinete is still there—steady, humble, and essential.