Vasco Martins

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Vasco Martins
Born	1965 Queluz, Portugal
Origin	Cape Verde
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Guitar, Piano, Synthesizer
Years active	1976–present
Website	http://www.vascomartins.com

Vasco Martins is a Cape Verdean musician and composer. Born in Queluz, Portugal, in 1956^[1], he lives now in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

In the Cape Verdean musical panorama, Vasco Martins may be considered unique. Being a composer that refuses being labelized, he may be considered a classical musician^[2] because his incursions into symphonic orchestra music, but he may also be considered as a new age musician^[3] because of his instrumental compositions mostly using synthesizers, but in whatever case, always inspiring in traditional Cape Verdean music.

Autodidact, he begins his studies in 1974. He takes part of the band Colá in 1976, but then goes to Portugal and later to France to pursue his musical education. In 1979 he records his first LP. Back in Cape Verde, it is there that he creates most of his work as a composer and instrumentist, but also as musicologist and producer. At the moment he is one of the rare Cape Verdean musicians whose main professional activity lies only on music.