Mestre Cobra Mansa commonly known as Cobrinha, Cobrinha Mansa, is a mestre

Mestre

Mestre is a city part of the comune of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.The city is connected to Venice by a large rail and road bridge, called Ponte della Libertà ....

or master of Capoeira Angola. He is one of the founders and the guiding light of an organization known either as FICA (in Brazil, an acronym for Fundaçao Internacional de Capoeira de Angola) or ICAF (in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, this stands for the International Capoeira Angola Foundation, which is the literal translation of the words which make up the acronym FICA). The word "fica" in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 is from the verb "ficar", probably the most used verb having many meanings, one of them is "you stay" or "s/he/it stays" (second/third person declarative). This meaning isn't necessarily significant, but because it has a meaning, it is slightly more catchy in Portuguese than ICAF is in English. One could interpret FICA as "let traditional Capoeira stay" or as "You become." But this interpretation is a conjecture. FICA/ICAF is the largest Capoeira Angola organization in the world, consisting of many local affiliates, chapters, and training centers incorporated as not-for-profits in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. These organizations charge nominal annual membership fees, and have locations in several countries in the Americas, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

Mestre Cobra Mansa is well known in the world of Capoeira

Capoeira

Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, and music. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century...

. He started Capoeira in 1973 with Mestre Josias da Silva and Raimundo in the Rio

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 neighborhood of Duque de Caxias

Duque de Caxias

Duque de Caxias is a city in southeast Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, bordered by Rio de Janeiro to the south. Its population was 842,890 and its area is 465 km². Its current Mayor is José Camilo Zito...

. He played Capoeira in the Duque Caxias street rodas and was one of the founders of the Caxias Street Roda with Mestre Rogerio Russo and Peixinho de Caxias. (A roda literally means circle, and is the formation of persons that surround a game of the martial dance of Capoeira.) In 1974 Cobra Mansa became a student of Mestre Moraes

Mestre Moraes

Pedro Moraes Trindade, commonly known as Mestre Moraes, is a master of capoeira.Moraes began his training in Capoeira de Angola at the age of eight...

 after he saw Mestre Moraes play in the Roda of Central Brazil. Prior to his dedicating his life to Capoeira Angola, he worked in photography

Photography

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...

 and as a street vendor in a circus (Circo Picolino). He went to Belo Horizonte in 1979 and was a police officer

Police officer

A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...

 in this city where he spent 2 years. In 1981 he went to Salvador

Salvador, Bahia

Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...

 and started the organization and school, GCAP (Grupo Capoeira Angola Pelorinho) in Salvador with Mestre Moraes.

History

At some point during the later years of GCAP, Mestres Cobrinha and Moraes had a difference over the direction of the school where they were both authority figures. The result was the departure of Mestre Cobrinha and several other members of GCAP as well as the formation of FICA.

On invitation from the Aussar Auset Society, Cobrinha moved to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and opened a school in Washington DC around 1994, which was solely dedicated to the teaching of Capoeira Angola. He later became an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University

George Washington University

The George Washington University is a private, coeducational comprehensive university located in Washington, D.C. in the United States...

, and then eventually president of the newly formed FICA. In 2004 he left the United States to make his home in Bahia, Salvador, Brazil to create the Kilombo Tenonde (www.kilombotenonde.com). This organization is currently split over two sites, one in Valencia, south of Bahia. Quilombo Tenonde provides space for Capoeira and permacultura

Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...

 (permaculture - organic farming). The other site is a cultural center at Coutos in the suburb of Salvador.

His Style

Cobra Mansa means tame snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

, and Cobrinha means little cobra. These nicknames are apt descriptions derived from his graceful and deceptive style of play.
His ability to transform situations through the use of innovative and acrobatic solutions has made him arguably the most influential Angoleiro (practitioner of Capoeira Angola) of his generation. Never one to avoid the complexity of Capoeira Reigonal, he has traveled in many non-Angola circles and done a great deal to help mend old disagreements between the two. His Capoeira continues to be respected and admired through both the Capoeira Angola and Capoeira Reigonal communities. He remains an inspiration to many younger Capoeiristas.

Mestre Cobrinha is well known as a mestre of Capoeira Angola. He is well respected for his deep knowledge and scholarship of the historical and cultural underpinnings of Capoeira Angola, as well as for his dynamic and aggressive style of play in the roda.

He recently completed a journey to the west-central region of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 to search for the African roots of Capoeira. He spent time Angola

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

 and Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

 learning about the "N'golo (Zebra dance)" and other local African cultural traditions that have been attributed in the past as contributing to the development of Capoeira.

Lineage

• The "lineage" of Capoeira Angola mestres under Mestre Pastinha

External links

• http://www.capoeira-angola.org/cobra.htm Official homepage