Waldemar Bastos

Waldemar dos Santos Alonso de Almeida Bastos (born January 4, 1954, São Salvador do Congo, Portuguese Angola) is an Angolan musician who combines Afropop, Portuguese (fado), and Brazilian influences. He was born in the Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola's town of São Salvador do Congo (now M'banza-Kongo) from black parents who were both nurses. He started singing at a very early age using his father instruments. After the independence of Angola in 1975 due to the events of the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon, at the age of 28 he fled the People's Republic of Angola for Portugal. He emigrated to Portugal in order to escape the civil war between the Marxist MPLA - Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola regime and the Western-backed UNITA - National Union for Total Independence of Angola.