Mestre Bimba

• Maestra Bimba (full name: Manuel dos Reis Machado; November 23, 1900 - February 15, 1974), one of the masters of Capoeira. Manuel was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He received the nickname "Bimba" following the intervention of his mother and her neighbor. If the baby is a boy or a girl, Bimba in Brazilian is a nickname for a male genital organ.

• The background to the income from Stra Bimba to the capoeira world

• The beginning of Manuel's path in martial arts was with his father. Manuel's father taught him atuki, a relatively simple martial art that consists of kicking the legs (like bandos - sweeping legs), and trying to throw the opponent off balance.

• In 1892 the president of Brazil Marechal Deodoro da Fonsec,  enacted a federal law in which capoeira was outlawed. In practice, the law forbade the practice of capoeira or its use, and imposed severe penalties, six months in prison, on those caught engaging in the forbidden art. Capoeira continued to exist in the weaker strata. Capoeira games and training sessions were held after work, on holidays and in all free hours, but not in organized halls and at fixed times, but on the street. They often changed places and times often so as not to fall into the hands of the police. But nevertheless riots often happened due to the arrival of the police on the scene.

Manuel played in the street, but without training it was not easy. Manuel began studying Capoeira at the age of twelve in Bahia with   Bentinho, an African who was a navigation captain, who studied Capoeira in Sanzales with the slaves. At that time there were no capoeira groups, and if someone wanted to learn capoeira, he had to find himself a teacher who wanted to learn, and then he had to become a sort of apprentice of his teacher.           משנתו של מסטרה בימבה

    The theory of training includes four parts. Physical fitness, technique, tactics, and spirit. Mestra Bimba started putting in the first, second and fourth.

        •   _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_    Physical fitness - Mestra Bimba wanted to bring the capoeiras to new heights. Through much more intense training, which included various strength and flexibility exercises, Mestra Bimba contributed to the development of the capoarist's body and fitness and actually increased the capoarist's potential.

        •   _cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_    Technique - through much more systematic and professional training, Mestra Bimba developed a much better technique in his students - that is, realizing the potential he created. The actual representation of systematic training is Bimba's eight famous sequences. Bimba also developed a method of training by throwing in order to teach the capoist to fall correctly.

        בנוסף שאף מסטרה בימבה לחדש את הקפוארה עצמה אשר לימים תקרא קפוארה רג' Yunal (Capoeira Regional- regional capoeira). Mestra Bimba introduced different movements from batuki, karate, jiu-jitsu and boxing into the new style which made the martial art much more aggressive, efficient and athletic. Maestra Bimba believed in changing, developing and improving capoeira.        •   _cc781905-5cde-3194 -bb3b-136bad5cf58d_      The spirit tells the story that Bimba's master saw that his disciples were lazy. He saw that his students did not invest so much in the strength training he created for them, but preferred to play all day in various games on the street. Maestra Bimba taught one of them to somersault. All his friends saw how he was doing somersaults, they immediately got excited, and started practicing as well. The other students did not give up, and each of them did at least a hundred somersaults that day. The next day everyone woke up with tight abs. But despite everything they did not give up and continued to train. Master Bimba examined his students and was satisfied. Each of them who managed to perform the exercise developed abdominal muscles accordingly.

        מעבר לשיפור הקפוארה מבחינת אימונים וטכניקה, ניסה בימבה גם לשנות את מעמד הקפוארה - Tried to establish. That is, to be recognized by the authorities who, due to the misuse of capoeira, banned the training and use of it. Capoeira attracted the attention of the government, and the governor decided that he wanted to see with his own eyes what that capoeira was. The governor summoned the most dangerous capoist who was known at that time - he is Mastra Bimba, if he had another nickname, Bimba Três Pancadas (Bimba Três Pancadas) because there was no fighter who managed to absorb more than three blows from him. At the performance Mestra Bimba with other capoeiras impressed the governor, Juracy Magalhães. Maestra Bimba finally managed to convince the authorities to legalize the culturally valuable martial art "Capoeira". In 1932, the Bahia Regional Capoeira School (Luta Bahina Regional) was opened under the guidance of Mestra Bimba - it is the first official Capoeira school. But the establishment of capoeira did not end here. Although the ban on engaging in capoeira was lifted, and capoeira was recognized by law, the upper class still did not accept capoeira with a warm welcome. Maestra Bimba wanted good relations with the members of the upper class, and all those close to the government, knowing that the way to keep capoeira alive, breathing, without the need to constantly defend itself, is to be closer to the centers of power. Mestra Bimba achieved this by setting new conditions for the Capoists studying in his school. He forced them to accept manners, wear clean white clothes, and look more respectable. Mestra Bimba even went so far as to demand a certain level of morality in order to be his disciple. Maestra Bimba added the belts (ropes, Cordao) to Capoeira, so that it looks more organized. The belts are reminiscent of military ranks, and generally symbolize hierarchy, which suited the centralized regime of that time (the rule of Getulio Vargas between 1930 and 1954). Slowly, upper class members began to flow into Mestra Bimba's classes. But Mestra Bimba was not satisfied with this. Mestra Bimba even began to train the special forces of the police, in order to get closer to the centers of power. This is how Bimba secured for himself capoeira's place on the right side of the law.

        The last few years in the Yamova network

        למרות הצלחתו הכבירה, למרות שתלמידים שלו הופיעו באזורים נרחבים של ברזיל, בימבה He did not receive the appropriate assistance from the authorities in Bahia. Mestra Bimba was enraged at the lack of help from the government institutions, and at the invitation of a student he moved to Goiana (Goiana) near Brasilia (the capital city).

            There are two main things about the importance of the Yamuba Massatra. Opening an organized capoeira school which is an example and a cornerstone for many schools today. And the development of regional capoeira - it is the leading style in fighting today 

        בפברואר 1974 נפטר מסטרה בימבה, אך דרכו בקפוארה ממשיכה בלעדיו במרבית בתי הספר Capoeira in the world.