{{Short description|Brazilian folklorist}} thumb|200px|Mestre Acordeon teaching at the Capoeira Arts Cafe in Berkeley, California in the spring of 2005
'''Ubirajara (Bira) Guimarães Almeida''' (born 1943), known as '''Mestre Acordeon''', is a native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, and a ''mestre'' of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira.
He has been active for fifty years as a teacher, performer, musician, organizer, author, and researcher into the origins, traditions, political connotations, and contemporary trends of Capoeira. Mestre Acordeon has traveled extensively to promote Capoeira outside Brazil.<ref name="Almeida">Almeida, Bira ''Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form'', 2nd Ed. North Atlantic Books, 1993.</ref><ref>Lewis, John Lowell. ''Ring of Liberation: Deceptive discourse in Brazilian Capoeira'', The University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL. 1992</ref>
== Biography ==
Acordeon was a student of Mestre Bimba in the late 1950s, and began teaching Capoeira himself in the early 1960s. In 1966, he founded the Grupo Folclorico da Bahia that performed the show ''Vem Camará: Histórias de Capoeira'' in the [http://www.itaucultural.org.br/aplicexternas/enciclopedia_teatro/index.cfm?fuseaction=cias_biografia&cd_verbete=630 Teatro Jovem] in Rio de Janeiro. He won three Brazilian Capoeira National Championships in the 1970s.
At the end of 1978 Mestre Acordeon came to the United States and began teaching Capoeira in the West Coast. He was one of the first Capoeira teachers on the West Coast of the US and also initiated projects and partnerships with US universities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Campos |first=Hellio |url=http://books.scielo.org/id/p65hq |title=Capoeira Regional: a escola de Mestre Bimba |date=2009 |publisher=EDUFBA |isbn=978-85-232-0571-3}}</ref>
Mestre Acordeon maintains the [http://capoeira.bz United Capoeira Association] (UCA) with several associated schools. He created the [http://capoeiraartsfoundation.org/ Capoeira Arts Foundation] in Berkeley, California which sponsors UCA and [http://projetokirimure.org Projeto Kirimurê], a social program for children in the neighborhood of [https://web.archive.org/web/20071026152549/http://ibahia.globo.com/salvador/itapua.asp Itapoã] in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
At the age of 70, on Labor Day 2013, he, his wife Suellen Einarsen also known as Mestra Suelly<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mestra Suelly: The Making of a Mestra |url=http://www.capoeira.bz/mestreacordeon/articles/mestrasuelly.html |access-date=2023-02-07 |website=www.capoeira.bz}}</ref> and nine of his disciples embarked on a 14,000 miles bicycle journey from Berkeley to his home town of Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. Their purpose was to raise funds and awareness for [http://projetokirimure.org Projeto Kirimurê] via making a documentary and a music CD about Capoeira's development in the Americas and about the year long journey. At [http://www.b2bjogacapoeira.com/ www.b2bjogacapoeira.com] you can find a [https://vimeo.com/102928196 trailer]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://vimeo.com/102928196|title=Two Flats and One Berimbau, Documentary Trailer|last=Almeida|first=Ubirajara|date=2014|website=|access-date=}}</ref> of the so far completed work.
Mestre Acordeon is currently active in Brazil and internationally as a Capoeira teacher. His classes attract Brazilian students as well as international students who travel to Brazil to study with him.
== Works == thumb|Mestre Acordeon with capoeiristas
Acordeon has recorded 9 CDs, and produced 3 DVDs. He is also the author of articles and books about Capoeira, including: * ''Agua de Beber, Camará: A bate Papo de Capoeira'',<ref>Almeida, Bira. ''Agua de Beber, Camará: A bate Papo de Capoeira''. Vanity Press. 1999. (Portuguese)</ref> * ''Capoeira Arts Café: An Academia de Capoeira.''<ref>''Capoeira Arts Café: An Academia de Capoeira.'' Almeida, Bira. Vanity Press. 2008.</ref> * ''Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form''<ref name="Almeida" />
== Recognition ==
He has received honors in support of his practice, teaching, and research of Capoeira. Among them, in the Fall of 1994, he became the first "artist" to receive the Tinker Visiting Professorship at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.<ref>Blocker, Susan. "[http://www.madison.com/archives/simple_search.php?var_start_pos=0&var_ft=1&var_is_start=1&keyword_field=capoeira+DANCERS+LEARN+%60DIALOGUE%27+FROM+A+MASTER&pub_code_field=wsj+tct&from_date_field=01%2F28%2F1994&to_date_field=01%2F31%2F2009&var_articles_per_page=10&Search=Begin+search Dancers learn 'dialogue' from a master]." ''[http://www.madison.com/wsj Wisconsin State Journal]''. October 7, 1994.</ref> In 2008, in recognition of his thirty years of continuous work on the West Coast, the City of Berkeley proclaimed October 18 as ''Mestre Acordeon Day''.<ref>Miao, Daisy. "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_/ai_n30903224 Berkeley festival to celebrate Capoeira master]". ''[http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune Oakland Tribune]''. Oct 12, 2008</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}}
{{commons category|Mestre Acordeon}}
{{Capoeira}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Bira}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:Brazilian folklorists Category:Capoeira mestres Category:People from Salvador, Bahia Category:Musicians from Salvador, Bahia Category:Brazilian capoeira practitioners Category:Brazilian martial artists Category:Brazilian male musicians Category:Brazilian educators Category:Brazilian expatriates in the United States Category:Martial arts school founders Category:Brazilian male writers Category:Brazilian non-fiction writers Category:People from Berkeley, California