Waldemar who? After all this time, the graceful Angolan singer-guitarist is still an unknown quantity as far as most British listeners are concerned. At a time when so much attention is devoted to Mali in particular there is no harm in being reminded that the rest of the African continent has traditions and pioneers of its own.

A gentle figure who fled political turmoil in his native land to start a new life in Lisbon, Waldemar Bastos first made an impression on international audiences a decade ago when Luaka Bop — the label launched by the Talking Heads singer David Byrne — released his gorgeous album Pretaluz.

The session, a sensitive mixture of pan-African and Brazilian influences, acquired a cult following even though Bastos tended to be overshadowed by his more charismatic label-mate, the Peruvian diva Susana Baca. Years elapsed before he emerged with a follow-up, a typically cosmopolitan journey through so-called Afropean forms that included a stop-over in Istanbul.

His live appearances on this side of the water have remained few and far between. Like the Congolese exile Lokua Kanza, who played a devastating set at this same venue a few years ago, Bastos represents a sophisticated strand of songwriting that world music purists sometimes overlook.

It was a shame to see so many empty seats on this closing night of the Atlantic Waves festival, but his rousing performance instantly banished the winter gloom. At the heart of his admirably compact band was the insouciant guitar playing of “Dizzy” Mandjeku Lengo, a musician whose sinuous lines evoked the joyous pulse of soukous. He may be portly, but his dance steps were unfailingly playful.

With the drums, bass and percussion locked firmly in place, Bastos’s distinctive, keening tenor soared through upbeat anthems including the infectious Kuribota. There is an aura of spirituality in his voice. Much of his music is shot through with the ambivalence of a performer who has wandered far from his own country. Yet that sense of exile also lends his songs a rare degree of sophistication.

On a day that marked the anniversary of his home country’s independence from Portugal, even outsiders were eager to join in the cries of “Viva Angola”.

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