[photo via Capoeira by Mestre Acordeon]
Christmas may soon be upon us but this young man who bares a striking resemblance to a Mr Claus is in fact Bira Almeida aka Mestre Acordeon - a legend of the capoiera game.
And if you don't know about 'The Capoiera' let us school ya a little:
After football (that is, the version you play mostly with your...feet), capoiera is the second most popular sport in Brazil. It is an Afro-Brazilian musical martial art form established sometime after the sixteenth century which blends many traditional African fighting styles.
Music and dance is thought to have been incorporated into capoiera by the African slaves that created it as a way to disguise from their masters the fact it was a fighting art.
Hailing from the African heart of Brazil, Salvador, Bahia, Mestre Acordeon has lived and breathed the spirit of capoeira for most of his life. He even trained under the great Mestre Bimba the man credited with bringing a structured and methodological approach to the teaching of capoiera.
At the tender age of 69, Mestre Acordeon shows no signs of a slow down and he continues to tour the globe teaching and enlightening pupils of his beloved art form. Here he is showing the youth...he still got it:
