Mestre Noronha

Daniel Coutinho, known as Mestre Noronha (1909–1977) was one of the old capoeira Angola mestres, from the time when capoeira was an illegal martial art.

Mestre Noronha was one of the founders of the first Centre of Capoeira Angola in Liberdade neighbourhood of Salvador, Bahia in 1920s. He was often persecuted by the police as a capoeira practitioner. The same year they received an invitation to a roda at Curva Grande, which turned out to be a hostile event filled with tough individuals. These men had been trained to attack them with the help of the police and were under the command of a Military Police sergeant. The situation escalated further as the cavalry and additional police forces intervened, resulting in a clash between the police and the capoeiristas. The capoeiristas were ultimately detained, seemingly lured into a trap. There were clear combat rules in their capoeira Angola center:

quote|The capoeirista who is dragged by a rasteira in a demonstration or a rabo de arraia or a joelhada or a balão boca de calças or a escoramento de coxa is considered defeated. The adversary is considered beaten if acknowledging his defeat immediately outside the demonstration. These are rules of capoeira angola. The combat ring is 4 meters by 4, there will be a capoeira angola judge to judge the angola player who is superior in attack.

Later years

He worked various jobs, including being a shoeshine boy, stevedore, dock worker, ragpicker, shipboard worker, truck driver assistant, street porter, and in the petrol industry. He eventually retired through his trade union.

In 1968, Noronha participated in Jair Moura's film called Dança de Guerra. In 1976, he completed his book, publish posthumously under the name O ABC da Capoeira Angola - Os Manuscritos do Mestre Noronha, in 1993.

Mestre Noronha died on 17 November 1977.

Works

O ABC da Capoeira Angola - Os Manuscritos do Mestre Noronha