Marcos "Barrão" DaSilva

First Mestre: Mestre Pirajá

Marcos "Barrão" DaSilva was born in Recife in 1961 into a state of poverty. He displayed an early talent for the drums, with which he earned his keep as a lad. At the age of 13, Mestre Pirajá (who was taught by his brother, a student of Mestre Bimba) took young Marcos under his wing and started to teach him Capoeira. An academy capoeirista by trade, Pirajá taught Barrão the techniques and discipline of Capoeira.

Second Mestre: Mestre Teté

After three years of training Barrão, Pirajá left on a sabbatical and Teté took over. Teté taught him the ways of the "street capoeirista". It was through this training that Mestre Barrão learned the techniques needed to survive in a Capoeira and how to effectively apply his techniques to any roda.

Legacy

Mestre Barrão began to enter tournaments and became the Brazilian Champion in the National Capoeira Championships in Rio de Janeiro. He opened his school, Grupo Axé Capoeira, in 1982. In 1987, he was given the rank of 1st Degree Mestre by Pirajá. He moved to Vancouver and opened an academy there. In 2007, he launched an academy in his hometown of Recife and currently resides there.

Mestre Barrão has been invited to teach, conduct workshops and conduct batizados all over the world and is the recipient of many awards. He was instrumental in re-introducing a dance known as Coco de Roda.

He continues to contribute to the development of Capoeira and passes on his philosophy to all 20,000 members of his school.