For his 70th birthday, Bira Almeida, the capoeira master known around the world for bringing the acrobatic Afro-Brazilian martial tradition to the United States, rode his bicycle from Berkeley to Salvador de Bahia, where he was born and raised.
He’s marking his 80th birthday with a celebration that’s not quite as arduous but ambitious nonetheless. Almeida, known by the capoeira moniker Mestre Acordeon, is also a pianist, guitarist, and prolific composer who used to perform widely with his band Corpo Santo.
Wednesday, Dec. 6, 1 p.m. Freight & Salvage, $20-$40
Thursday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m. Casa de Cultura, $20-$40
Living in Albuquerque now after retiring from the Capoeira Arts Foundation in 2019, he’s performing Wednesday afternoon at Freight & Salvage and Thursday night at Casa de Cultura. Both concerts feature an ensemble with many of the region’s most versatile string players, including Grammy Award-winning Hot Club of San Francisco violinist Evan Price, cellist Jessica Ivry and Irene Sazer on violin and viola. The group also features Grupo Falso Baiano reed player Zack Pitt-Smith, Salvador-born vocalist Nilo Ayele, vocalist Mestra Suelly, and many other musicians and capoeiristas.
“Bira really wanted to have his music orchestrated,” said Oakland guitarist Randy Porter, who played in Corpo Santo for about a decade starting in the mid-1980s. “He always thinks in huge ideas. I was honored to have the task.”
With more than 150 compositions to his credit, Almeida composed many pieces set to loping capoeira rhythms (defined by the twang of the one-string berimbau) and the festive northeastern dance style known as baiao, “but he also wrote sambas, bossa novas, and even some choros,” Porter said. “He’s got this huge range of music.”
Porter was living in a house in Poet’s Corner in the mid-1980s with saxophonist/composer Don Plonsey, Irene Sazer and other musicians when he discovered capoeira and Mestre Acordeon. After experiencing a musical epiphany listening to Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist Egberto Gismonti’s ECM album Dança Das Cabeças with Naná Vasconcelos on percussion, vocals and berimbau, a friend pointed out Bira Almeida taught nearby.
It wasn’t long before Almeida heard him playing guitar and invited him to join Corpo Santo, which played regularly at Ashkenaz, La Pena and Alberto’s in the south Bay.
Almeida came to Berkeley in the late 1970s and was one of two Brazilians who introduced capoeira to the United States. His impact is hard to overstate. In addition to dozens of capoeira centers and troupes founded by his disciples, he was one of the founders of the Mission District’s Carnival street celebration in 1979, an institution that’s still going strong. Dennis Broughton, an early Almeida acolyte, went on to launch California Brazil Camp.
The celebration of Almeida’s 80th birthday includes a series of workshops at Casa de Cultura Friday through Sunday, concluding Sunday afternoon with a forró concert by Mestre Pepiba and Friends. “We’re bringing teachers from Brazil, Europe and Mexico, along with a spectacular group of Bay Area capoeristas,” said Laura “Papagaio” Margulius, acting vice president of the Capoeira Arts Foundation’s board.
Like many people involved with the CAF, Margulius moved to Berkeley decades ago to study with Mestre Acordeon, and she noted that for longtime devotees of Almeida the Freight show would be particularly poignant. Before the Capoeira Arts Foundation moved into and eventually purchased the Casa de Cultura building on San Pablo Avenue, the organization rented space in an autobody shop on Addison Street, just west of Shattuck Avenue. The City of Berkeley provided a loan to CAF to transform the barebones space while trying to establish the Downtown Arts District, and for many years the Capoeira Arts Café provided a splash of color on an industrial block.
“People could come in and watch us train,” Margulius said. “When we moved in there we became friends with Susie Medak at Berkeley Rep, and the Jazzschool. But when the building went up for sale, we couldn’t buy it and it ended up becoming Freight & Salvage. We haven’t gone into the Freight since we left.”
The first half of both the Freight and Casa de Cultura concerts focus on Almeida’s extended bossa ballad “Pôr Do Sol” (Sunset), “kind of a metaphor for where he in in his career,” said Porter, who knows he’ll have to stay on his toes on stage with Almeida.
“He’ll say, ‘Do you know this tune?’ No, and he’ll just start playing it. On stage. For a lot of the music we’ll have lead sheets, and we’ll have to follow Bira.”
It’ll likely be challenging, but not nearly as daunting as a 6,500-mile bike trip.
