«I learned capoeira in 1936 in Piripiri and I'm called Waldemar Rodrigues da Paixão. [..] I had four mestres: Siri de Mangue, one; Canário Pardo, two; Talavi, three, and Ricardo from Ilha de Maré, four. I asked these men to teach me so that I could become professional.»

M Waldemar, 1987

«[The mestres] came to Periperi, that mad roda. It was then that I started to learn from them. I was a boy [de 20 anos]. [Siri de Mangue?] bought 200 reis worth of red wine, that white glass with a handle, he drank it and said: «Catch the mouth of my pants!» I went to catch the mouth of his pants and he made the miserable somersault and gave me a rabo de arria. When I was getting up he said: «Don't get up, here comes another one!» His students played with us as if we were already good.»

M Waldemar in Abreu, 2003