Anyone living in the Macau in the past 15 years, and especially those with kids, is sure to have come across the local branch of this city’s Capoeira club, whether through actively participating in it, or just enjoying their performances at many of the city’s cultural festivals and events.
The Capoeira Sports and Cultural Association of Macau (ADCCM) was founded in 20011 by Capoeira Master Eddy Murphy (real name Edilson Almeida) who originally arrived in Hong Kong in 2001 and later worked as a musician in Shenzhen before relocating to Macau.
“I remember when I came to Macau in 2011 and we had less than 50 active students. Nowadays we have over 150 and for sure over the years we have taught thousands of students in Macau. It’s amazing and awesome to see this and I feel like Capoeira is a part of the Macau community nowadays,” says Hugo Almeida, Master Eddy’s son and an instructor at the club.
On the other hand, Hugo is not entirely surprised at the popularity of the Brazilian martial art.
“Capoeira is really a complete art form. We have music, acrobatics, fighting and dancing, so many people are attracted to it,” he says. “If you’re not good at fighting, you can dance. If you’re not good at dancing you can play music. If you’re not good at music you can do acrobatics. It’s good for your health, mobility and balance. We have kids as young as three and adults in their late 50s.”
Capoeira was created by enslaved Africans in Brazil at the beginning of the 16th century to disguise the fact that they were practicing fighting techniques. It is characterized by flowing acrobatic movements, rocking foot work and musical instruments.
Over the years, the Macau Capoeira Association has become a staple feature at many of the local cultural festivities around town, especially the annual Lusofonia Festival celebrating the cultural traditions of Portuguese-speaking countries.
“This was actually the first festival Master Eddy participated in in Macau. After that, he loved the place so much, he decided to stay,” comments Hugo (whose Capoeira nickname is Flecha or “arrow”). “Since then, we’ve participated in hundreds of events, even Chinese New Year festivities, so I guess we bring Capoeira literally everywhere around town!”
As well as festivals, there are also regular competition events that the club members attend.
“I’ve competed here in Asia and in Europe and Brazil, and in 2018 in the World Cup competition in Azerbaijan and won third place, which was pretty amazing,” say the 26-year-old. “I’m just a teacher, not a Master, but I was competing against Masters, so I was really happy with the result.”
Macau even hosted a kids Capoeira competition in 2019 at The Venetian with competitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Kazakhstan.
“We had an awesome competition. The kids really put their hearts into it and many of the kids from Macau won first place in their divisions,” comments Hugo.
While he may not yet be a Capoeira Master, Hugo is currently the main teacher in Macau. Practicing the sport has been a life long journey for him, beginning at just three years of age and training with his father as many as 18 times a week.
“Growing up in a martial arts family was tough to be honest. As the son I was always pushed to the limit. Sometimes I told my dad ‘I’m never going to do Capoeira, I’m never going to be a teacher’, but look at me now. I think only our parents really know our true potential.”
Ultimately it was probably going to be impossible for Hugo to avoid Capoeira as it really is a family tradition. His father Master Eddy does it, and so does his elder sister Jackeline, younger sister Khiari and Master Eddy’s wife Fernanda.
“My little sister Khiari is just 10 years old and she’s amazing at it. I think she has had a different experience than me, not so much pressure to do it, so she really does it out of joy.”
The Macau Club is part of the larger Grupo Axé Capoeira, one of the biggest organisations in the world, operating in around 30 countries with over 10,000 members. And the ever-energetic and relentlessly positive Master Eddy is one of only five Capoeira Masters in the entire group.
It was thus a tremendous shock to everyone when the 54-year-old was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer in 2021.
“He’s someone who has been so active his whole life and doing Capoeira for 40 years, so it was really tough. We found out in May but until December he kept teaching four classes a day and doing chemotherapy. That’s why I call him Superman!” notes Hugo.
At the time, Hugo was in Brazil recovering from an injury, but as soon as he returned in January this year, Master Eddy went to China to receive aggressive treatment and bone marrow transplant for two months. Fortunately, the treatment seems to have been successful and Master Eddy is now back in Macau recovering.
“He’s really amazing. He hasn’t lost a lot of weight, but he is quite weak and gets tired quickly. It will probably take around six months for him to recover.”
The family are especially thankful to the Macau community for their encouragement and support and their financial assistance to help with the very expensive procedure. In particular, MOP250,000 was raised in the “Art Auction for Master Eddy Murphy 38” held in April in Albergue SCM, organised by the CA Cultura (CAC) association.
A total of 38 artworks were donated by local artists for the auction, with all the pieces sold within 45 minutes. President of CAC Carlos Marreiros presented an artwork titled Tribute to Master Eddie Murphy to the family, which had been purchased by an unknown bidder at the auction, but who wanted Master Eddy to have it.
“We are so grateful for everything. Through all these years I’ve watched my father do so much for the community, and to see the community giving back to him was really amazing,” says Hugo.