When Waldemar Bastos first journeyed to Seattle, it was as a part of WOMAD, the fabulous (but sadly shortlived) international world music festival.

A complete unknown to domestic audiences, Bastos managed to awe the crowd from his small, outdoor stage. By the time his set was finished, a crowd of a few dozen had grown to several hundred. No mind that the assembled audience didn't understand Portuguese, the language in which his songs were being sung. The passion, the longing, and the suffering communicated by Bastos' songs were absolutely mesmerizing.

Among many others, I rushed to grab a copy of Pretaluz/Black Light (Luaka Bop), his debut album in the U.S. Played hundreds of times over, the album is still in heavy rotation in my music collection. Of Angolan birth, Bastos fled the nation's civil war decades ago to take up residence in Portugal, which remains his home to this day.

Renascence (World Connection), Bastos' second domestic album, was released in the months before notice of his 2005 summer tour. For his Seattle performance, Bastos could not have been placed in a better venue than the renovated performance space contained within The Triple Door. Stellar acoustics combined with top-notch sound engineering made this performance both exceptional and memorable in every possible way.

Bastos' compositions, a mesmerizing blend of Angolan lyrical imagery, Portugese and Brazilian cross-pollinated fados, nature-inspired percussive flourishes, and guitar arrangements reminiscent of something of a cross between B.B. King and King Sunny Ade. The musicians backing Bastos performed seamlessly with beautifully executed bass lines anchoring the entire set. The synchronicity, camaraderie and sheer celebratory joy of the band's two-hour set was a beautiful thing to behold.

With remarkable control over both the tempo, range and volume of his vocals, Bastos soared through his repertoire, including such highlights as “Minha Familia” and the sorrowful “Sofrimento.” Halfway into his set, Bastos and his group brought this otherwise very reluctant and sedate Seattle audience to its feet, something that clearly heightened the intensity of the performance itself.

The closing song of the encore performance, the catchy “Kuribota,” was the perfect bookend to one of the most flawless live world music performances of recent memory. My only (mild) disappointment? That the Jamaican MC Chaka Demus wasn't on hand to lend his touch to one of my favorite fusion songs on Renascence, “Pitanga Madurinha II.” Given the buzz that lingered after this performance for many days on end, it was hardly a disappointment—just something to look forward to in the years to come.

Bastos deserves as wide an audience as possible; talent and passion like his doesn't come along often. When we are witness to it, it's a beautiful thing, and a sheer blessing to behold.