Mestre Boca Nua, whose real name is Cosme Soares de Oliveira, was destined to become a mestre (master) of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian art form that combines music, dance and martial art, and whose origins go back to the sixteenth century when African slaves, after arriving in Brazil, combined the fighting styles from different tribes. Not only was he born in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil where the ‘dance of war' originated, but he was taught by a mestre who learned capoeira directly from the two founding mestre: Mestre Bimba (Manuel dos Reis Machado) and Mestre Pastinha (Vicente Ferreira). These two mestre defined capoeira as it is today.
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