Lá no céu vai quem merece
Na terra vale quem tem
A soberba combatida
Foi quem matou Pedro Cem...

This famous ladainha was written by Mestre Waldemar and based on a true story that became a legend in Brazilian popular culture. Read on to find out who Pedro Cem was, when and where he lived, and what happened to him.

Lúcia Querino was born in Salvador, Bahia on May 15, 1955. She has been a student of Mestre Nô since 1971, in the academy Orixás da Bahia in the neighborhood of Massaranduba, where she was the mestre’s first female student. She received the professor corda in 1979 and taught capoeira in Salvador until 1992. Later, she taught in Santos (Sao Paulo state), where she worked with an NGO called Casa de Cultura da Mulher Negra (House of Culture of Black Women). She moved to Paris in 1996 and founded the Grupo Capoeira Palmares de Paris together with Pol Briand.

In this text, she vividly describes her memories of her life in capoeira. 

Abstract: This article analyzes the representation of women in capoeira songs, examining the ethical and instructive roles of the lyrics. Some comparisons are made between common themes in capoeira songs and in Popular Brazilian Music (MPB), establishing links between the representation of women in both musical traditions. This study also evaluates the misogynistic message of many lyrics, contrasting them with the process of transformation that has taken place in capoeira circles. The presence of prominent feminine voices, the questioning of the mistreatment of women, and the new songs are all aspects that have contributed to re-shaping the female image in the songs and in the game.