Mestre Camisa comes from a family of five Capoeira Masters, and was the fourth to learn Capoeira He was born in Jacobina, in Fazenda Estiva, in the Bahian countryside. He began his Capoeira career in the 60`s with his oldest brother Mestre Camisa Roxa. Following that, he moved to Salvador and lived in Lapinha where he continued to practice Capoeira in the street "rodas", especially in the ones lead by Master Waldemar and Master Traira, which were held on Pero Vaz Street. Sometime after that, he went to train at Master Bimba`s Academy where he graduated. He went all over Brazil making Capoeira presentations with the team directed by Master Camisa Roxa. In 1972, at the age of only 16, he decided to live in Rio de Janeiro and started teaching classes in academies.

In Rio de Janeiro, Camisa dedicated himself to the research of Capoeira and developed his own methodology of teaching it, following the innovated concepts of Master Bimba.

Mestre Camisa founded ABADÁ-CAPOEIRA, today represented in countries around the world such as the United States, Mexico, Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, United Kingdom and Israel. There are about 25,000 capoeiristas following the philosophy, doctrine norms and fundamentals directed by Mestre Camisa and ABADÁ-CAPOEIRA.

In his work Camisa has always given emphasis to the professionalisation of the art. After all, Capoeira gave him his first job, and since then he`s always been able to make living with it.