WALDEMAR BASTOS
Waldemar Bastos was born in 1954 near the border with Zaire in N’Banza Congo, a little town which was the first capital city of the ancient kingdom of Angola. Both his parents were nurses. He started singing at a very early age.

“When I was a child, my mother, who is still alive fortunately, soon realized I had a very special musical gift. I used to spend my days singing and whistling, and my mother noticed that as something out of the ordinary...and she gave me all her support”.
“One day, my father arrived home and found me playing his concertina. I felt bad for having been caught touching, without permission, an instrument which was almost sacred for him. But he was pleasantly surprised, I think he was even satisfied to hear me playing popular radio songs. In the following Christmas he gave an accordion as a gift...”

From then on, a young Waldemar dedicated his heart and soul to music. When he was eight, he heard a radio announcement about a teacher who gave musical lessons. Waldemar spoke with his parents about the lessons and they accepted the idea. Since money was scarce, the little kid chose the lessons over the possibility of getting a bicycle.

In 1982 he emigrated to Brazil where things went well and he learnt the real meaning of recognition and solidarity. Waldemar found a label interested in his work, EMI-Odeon, and recorded his first album.  The well-known “Estamos Juntos”, a definitive landmark in Waldemar Bastos’ career, includes the theme “A Velha Chica” (“Xê, little boy, don’t talk politics”), and had, among others, Chico Buarque, João do Vale, Dorival Caimmy, Martinho da Villa and Novelli as special guests. 

Waldemar decided to immigrate to Lisbon in 1985, where he recorded his second album in 1990, the highly praised “Angola Minha Namorada”, five years later. In the same year he went to Angola, where he was still very popular. In Luanda, at the Kinaxixe Square, Waldemar presented a memorable concert for 200,000 people who applauded him effusively and emotionally, waving white handkerchiefs.
He has since released three albums, which received great reviews from voices in the International press. In the aftermath of “Pretaluz/Blacklight”, described by The New York Times as “one of the best World music records of the decade”, Waldemar won the “Award for the Emerging Artist of the Year (1999)”. 

Estamos Juntos (EMI Records Ltd., 1983)
Angola Minha Namorada (EMI Portugal, 1989)
Pitanga Madura (EMI Portugal, 1992)
Pretaluz [blacklight] (Luaka Bop, 1997)
Renascence (World Connection, 2004)
Love Is Blindness (2008)