Mestre Acordeon

Biography

Ubirajara Guimarães Almeida, known as Mestre Acordeon, was born in 1943 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and is recognized as one of the few officially graduated masters of capoeira from the legendary school of Mestre Bimba. Beginning his capoeira training in 1958, Acordeon quickly established himself as both a martial artist and cultural ambassador. In 1959, he opened his first academy in Boa Vista de Brotas, attracting students seeking a holistic approach to capoeira that combined rigorous physical training with music and artistic expression. His reputation grew substantially throughout the 1960s and 1970s, culminating in winning three Brazilian National Capoeira Championships during the 1970s. In 1966, he founded the Grupo Folclorico da Bahia, one of the first groups to perform capoeira in theatrical shows, including the influential production "Vem Camará: Histórias de Capoeira" at Teatro Jovem in Rio de Janeiro, which shaped the modern capoeira regional movement.

In 1978, Mestre Acordeon relocated to the United States and became a pioneering figure in introducing capoeira to the West Coast, particularly the San Francisco Bay Area. For over four decades, he served as a guiding force for generations of capoeira practitioners, establishing multiple schools and becoming the first artist to receive the Tinker Visiting Professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994. In 1998, he co-founded the Capoeira Arts Café in downtown Berkeley with Mestre Rã. Beyond his martial arts contributions, Acordeon is an accomplished musician and composer who has recorded multiple capoeira music albums and authored several books, including "Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form," one of the few comprehensive capoeira texts in English. His cultural impact was formally recognized in 2008 when the City of Berkeley proclaimed October 18 as Mestre Acordeon Day in recognition of his thirty years of continuous work on the West Coast.

Fun Facts

• At age 70, Mestre Acordeon embarked on an audacious 14,000-mile bicycle journey from Berkeley to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on Labor Day 2013, accompanied by his wife Mestra Suelly and nine of his disciples.
• Mestre Acordeon has recorded seven capoeira music albums and is both a talented musician and composer, integrating musical performance as a core element of his capoeira teaching philosophy.
• He graduated from the Centro de Cultural Fisica Regional of Brazil in 1959 and is one of the few officially recognized masters to have completed formal training under the legendary Mestre Bimba (1889-1974).
• In recognition of his thirty years of cultural contributions to the San Francisco Bay Area, the City of Berkeley officially proclaimed October 18 as Mestre Acordeon Day in 2008.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Mestre Bimba - Primary capoeira instructor and legendary master who trained Acordeon in the late 1950s (Centro de Cultural Fisica Regional capoeira school) [1958-1959 onwards]

Key Collaborators

• Mestre Onça (Ayrton Neves Moura) - Co-founder of academia K-poeira in São Paulo (K-poeira academy) [1968]
• Mestre Rã (Cassio Martinho) - Business partner and co-founder of Capoeira Arts Café in Berkeley (Capoeira Arts Café, United Capoeira Association) [1998 onwards]
• Mestra Suelly (Suellen Einarsen) - Wife and teaching partner at United Capoeira Association in Berkeley (United Capoeira Association) [1990s onwards]

Artists Influenced

• West Coast Capoeira Practitioners - Pioneered capoeira introduction to the West Coast and inspired a generation of practitioners who followed him to the United States (Multiple capoeira schools and organizations throughout California) [1978 onwards]
• Modern Capoeira Regional Movement - Influenced the development of contemporary capoeira through Grupo Folclorico da Bahia's theatrical approach (Vem Camará: Histórias de Capoeira performance) [1966 onwards]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia
• MusicBrainz