Romualdo Rosário da Costa (Salvador, October 29, 1954 — Salvador, October 8, 2018), known as Mestre Môa do Katendê, was a Brazilian composer, musician, craftsman, teacher, and capoeira master.Romualdo Rosário da Costa | Mestre Moa de Katende | Bahia 1954. Arte e Vida CapoeiraMestre Moa do Katendê: The sad and cowardly end of a capoeira. Portal Capoeira, October 8, 2018Music: Mestre Moa and Batucada Aroeira. Paraty House of Culture
Regarded one of the greatest Capoeira Angola masters in Bahia, he began practicing capoeira at the age of eight, at his aunt's terreiro.SILVA, Sonaly Torres da. Capoeira: movement and malice in games of power and resistance Dissertation (Master's) – Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais. Postgraduate Program in Psychology. P. 86
He was stabbed twelve times in the back after the first round of the 2018 Brazilian general election. According to witnesses and the police investigation, the attack was motivated by political disagreements, after da Costa declared he had voted for left-wing Worker's Party presidential candidate Fernando Haddad. The attacker, a supporter of the opposing candidate and eventual electoral victor Jair Bolsonaro, had argued with the capoeirista and briefly left the scene, returning shortly afterwards with the machete with which he stabbed the victim at least 12 times. da Costa died at the scene.Capoeira master is killed with 12 stab wounds after saying he voted for the Workers' Party, in Salvador. Extra, October 8, 2018The minutes before the murder of a capoeira master in Bahia. UOL Elections 2018, October 10, 2018 His cousin was stabbed deep in the arm while trying to protect him.
His death prompted tributes from artists such as Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil and also international artists, such as Roger Waters. Capoeira groups and movements linked to African culture also paid tribute around the country.
He was laid to rest on October 8, 2022.
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