By Andrew Gilbert

When peace finally came to Angola after 27 years of civil war, Waldemar Bastos returned to his homeland and gave the performance of a lifetime.

Though the acoustic guitarist, vocalist and songwriter had lived in exile for two decades, he had developed a passionate following in Angola, and when he per formed in a stadium in the capital Luanda, he was greeted like a long-lost son.

"For me it was very important, very emotional, the end of the war for my people," Bastos said from Washington, D.C. "I hoped for this day many times, and I al ways believed that this moment would come. When I was in the stadium playing for my people, was reborn."

Bastos makes his first West Coast appearance in five years on Sunday afternoon as part of the Stern Grove Festival, focusing on the lovely tunes from his new album "Renascence" (Times Square Records), his first release in seven years. In a canny programming move, the great Cape Verdean vocalist Maria de Barros opens the concert, pairing two artists from Portugal's former colonies.

A vast country in southwest Africa more than three times the size of California, Angola came into Portugal's sphere of influence in the 15th century. In later years, it was the source of millions of slaves sent to Brazil. The nation didn't gain independence until 1975, following a left-wing coup in Portugal. But instead of prosperity, Angola quickly became the center of a Cold-War struggle.

With the Soviet Union back ing the ruling socialist party led by Jose Eduardo do Santos, and the United States and South Africa supporting Jonas Savimbi's Unita rebels, a civil war raged intermittently for decades, killing hundreds of thousands and displacing millions.

On "Renascence," Bastos celebrates the strength of Angola's common people, but he also meditates upon the costs of tks long war. Singing in Portuguese, he describes on "Georgina" the anguish of soldiers returning to Luanda, only to find their girl friends missing. While the red fruit pitanga is often used as metaphor for love, his lilting song "Pitanga Madurinha" uses the fruit to evoke his country's ripeness for peace.

Born in 1954, Bastos started playing music for parties when he was 7. He quickly learned that in order to satisfy his listeners, he had to learn to play not only various African styles, but the Latin American and U.S. pop songs of the day. He started writing songs at 14, incorporating elements of various Brazilian and Cuban styles, as well as influences from the Beatles, Nat "King" Cole and Santana.

'As a child I listened to music from many countries," he said. "Because my heart is open, liked many different styles. There were no DJs, so at parties we played all this music as it was on the radio, tangos, waltzes, merengues. This was my school. My universe is very big because I played different styles of music many years. My music is a result of all this."

Distraught at the violence that had enveloped his homeland, he fled the country in 1982 while touring with an Angolan band, and ended up staying with friends in Berlin. He got his big break when he reunited with some Brazilian musicians he had met in Angola, which led to his debut recording in 1983, "Estamos Juntos," featuring such Brazilian stars as Chico Buarque, Jaques Morelenbaum, Joao Do- nato and the legendary song- writer Dorival Caymmi.

American audiences first had a chance to hear his music in 1997, when David Byrne's Luaka Bop label released his album "Pretaluz." Produced by Arto Lindsay, the album reflected Bastos's sadness at the seemingly endless war. Though several peace accords were signed, the fighting continued until 2002, when government troops killed Savimbi.

Though the economy is only starting to recover from the carnage, Angolan exiles are slowly returning. For Bastos, peace means that anything is now possible in his country, a sense of optimism, tempered by melancholy, that pervades his new album. With "Renascence," he has truly been reborn.

PREVIEW

WHO: Waldemar Bastos
WHEN: 2 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard, S.F.
HOW MUCH: Free
CONTACT 415-252-6252, www.stemgrove.org