Waldemar Bastos

It has been seven years since his last album, and in those seven years Waldemar Bastos has seen peace come for the first time in his life to his ancestral home of Angola. In those same years, Bastos turned 50 and decided to record and release only the fifth album of his tumultuous lifetime. By being born in civil-war-torn Angola, Bastos spent his early years in a Portuguese colonial prison and later in exile in Brazil, France and Germany. Bastos spent his entire career exploring his African roots through the culture and music of his many adopted homes. Eventually, Bastos was signed to David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label for 1997’s award winning Pentaluz/Blacklight. Since then, he has come to a reflective period in his life, and Renascence is a full-bodied, uplifting album that captures the love of music he has had all his life. Tracks like "Agua de Bango,” "Georgina” and especially "Sabores da Terra” bring out funky African rhythms, while the poignant "Esperanca” and "Paz, Pao e Amor” are more deeply spiritual and socially sincere tracks. Wildemar Bastos has returned from a long journey with many stories to tell and with many ways to tell them; in the end, he creates music that is both deeply satisfying and expressive of the world he inhabits.