National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

Deraldo Ferreira, the founder and director of the Brazilian Cultural Center of New England, is also the founder and leader of the Samba Tremeterra bateria. For the past 20 years, his main jobs have been organizing the work of the Brazilian Cultural Center and teaching capoeira at the center and in a number of local schools and colleges. However, on the side, he has also found time for his love for music. Deraldo has been drumming since early childhood, and since the mid '90s he has also been giving regular samba drumming classes at the Brazilian Cultural Center of New England.

In 1998, he joined with some of his students and started a professional samba group that would from then on provide the music for the regularly occurring samba parties at the center as well as events in the entire state.

The group has grown in number and in experience and can, at larger events, put on a powerful show. In addition to the parties at the center and a few other local venues, the group has performed in various other states and collaborated with a number of local and international artists.

Deraldo brings to the BCCNE a 25-year tenure in capoeira and a similar lifetime involvement and commitment to samba drumming, musical composition and choreography. Of equal importance is Deraldo's talent and experience as an instructor.

He has trained children, teens and adults in his own academy in Santos and in his teaching throughout New England and Canada for the past 14 years. Deraldo Ferreira began studying capoeira at the age of 14. In 1984 he was awarded certification as a mestre. Following his success in Brazil, he came to North America and became one of the first capoeiristas to bring the artform to the United States.

Capoeira is a martial art form that originated in the 16th century among slaves brought to Brazil from African nations such as Angola, Congo, and Guinea. The New World slave masters, anxious to keep their captives under their strict domination, imposed harsh prohibitions and restrictions on parent forms of capoeira, often referred to as "n'golo."

To ensure their survival, the traditional forms were infused with dance and a new musical accompaniment. Capoeira's deadly potential was hidden from the slave-masters by its dance-like elegance, baffling acrobatics, and the engaging rhythms of its music.
For the African slaves, capoeira was a literal and symbolic means of survival. It became a tool of escape and defense, making freedom attainable and affirming strength, self-reliance and self esteem. Subsequently, it was banned in Brazil for 400 years, yet flourished underground, reinforcing its ritualistic elements and its African substructure.

In 1937, capoeira was legalized and recognized as a national folkloric art by the Brazilian government. Capoeira is a testimony to the indomitable spirit, ingenuity, and unique expression of Brazilian culture. —Courtesy Calabash Music