Vasco Martins will be at the piano on the B. Lesa stage in Lisbon next Saturday.

Improvisation is one of Vasco Martins’ greatest strengths, and he often demonstrates it on stage. Creative freedom determines the path taken in each song. The composer takes Cape Verdean music to more erudite places where jazz makes an unexpected appearance.

Vasco Martins began composing his songs in 1975, and four years later he recorded his first album, Vibrações, on piano in Lisbon. In 1984 he took part in the first Baia das Gatas festival and has participated in many subsequent festivals. He has released more than two dozen albums, playing guitar, piano or exploring the possibilities of synthesizers, a path that began with the album Universo da Ilha, which featured Luís Morais, and has also published several symphonic works. With Orquestra Classica do Centro in Portugal, he recorded Viagens no Imaginário da Morna in 2016. The traditional music of Cape Verde is interpreted by Vasco Martins in a very special way, taking it beyond the archipelago. In 1998, the composer erected what he calls the Apeiron, an Etruscan-shaped stone arch, at the top of Praia do Norte on the island of São Vicente. “Arco do Vasco” has already been the stage for several concerts by Vasco Martins, who intends to make Arco a portal that transports music and spirit into an undefined dimension. This Saturday in Lisbon, Vasco Martins will be at the piano on the B. Leza stage to show his musical variations.