Edgarbeck is a project by two artists who, unconsciously, wanted to work together for many months. Mountains moved and made Rui Souza (Dada Garbeck) and Edgar Valente (Criatura e Bandua) decide to get together in the Minho region to create this concert. In an itinerant and polyphonic residency, they intend to bring the Ave Valley’s taverns, factories, chapels and hills onto the stage. This project was born and had its premiere at the opening session of the Westway LAB’s 10th edition. It is a paradoxical, polyphonic and polysemic concert, like the Minho region itself. Because deep down, we are...

Musical creation has been a distinctive vector of the Westway LAB, since its launch in 2014. Previous editions have promoted dozens of artistic residencies at the Candoso Creation Centre which have resulted in many other showcases and several new musical projects that, due to the festival’s incredible experience, discovered an artistic vision that justified continuity for the works. The showcases of the artistic residencies are, therefore, one of the festival’s finest original moments because they reveal the result of a unique creative process to the general public, developed in Guimarães. With...

Musical creation has been a distinctive vector of the Westway LAB, since its launch in 2014. Previous editions have promoted dozens of artistic residencies at the Candoso Creation Centre which have resulted in many other showcases and several new musical projects that, due to the festival’s incredible experience, discovered an artistic vision that justified continuity for the works. The showcases of the artistic residencies are, therefore, one of the festival’s finest original moments because they reveal the result of a unique creative process to the general public, developed in Guimarães. With...

After a day's work at the Candoso Creation Centre, the musicians in residence chat with the audiences in emblematic spaces in the city, in a highly informal, relaxed and generous environment, testifying to the importance of musical creation in Guimarães. It is one of the festival’s most vibrant moments, a kind of artistic and social test tube, that fosters new forms of connection between all sectors of the independent music scene and the city itself.

Musical creation has been a distinctive vector of the Westway LAB, since its launch in 2014. Previous editions have promoted dozens of artistic residencies at the Candoso Creation Centre which have resulted in many other showcases and several new musical projects that, due to the festival’s incredible experience, discovered an artistic vision that justified continuity for the works. The showcases of the artistic residencies are, therefore, one of the festival’s finest original moments because they reveal the result of a unique creative process to the general public, developed in Guimarães. With...

Musical creation has been a distinctive vector of the Westway LAB, since its launch in 2014. Previous editions have promoted dozens of artistic residencies at the Candoso Creation Centre which have resulted in many other showcases and several new musical projects that, due to the festival’s incredible experience, discovered an artistic vision that justified continuity for the works. The showcases of the artistic residencies are, therefore, one of the festival’s finest original moments because they reveal the result of a unique creative process to the general public, developed in Guimarães. With...

After a day's work at the Candoso Creation Centre, the musicians in residence chat with the audiences in emblematic spaces in the city, in a highly informal, relaxed and generous environment, testifying to the importance of musical creation in Guimarães. It is one of the festival’s most vibrant moments, a kind of artistic and social test tube, that fosters new forms of connection between all sectors of the independent music scene and the city itself.

In 21st century Portuguese popular music, there is no other figure like B Fachada, the artistic name of Bernardo Fachada - composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer. Since 2007 he has garnered acclaim for his astonishing, and to some extent ruthless, pace of new releases, through which he frequently subverts canon and converts dogmatists. Between physical and digital formats, he has released five EPs, three pivotal mini albums and seven LPs. If almost a decade of independent professional artistic activity can suggest anything, it is that, like few other musicians, Fachada is interested in questioning...

Redoma is a new musical duo from Porto, formed by Carolina Viana (singer and rapper) and Joana Rodrigues (producer). Both studied music and met at ESMAE, while studying for their BA degree. Throughout 2020 and 2021, they developed a unique way of communicating with each other. In 2022 this creative effort culminated with the release of the EP “Parte”, an existentialist manifesto based on rap music with a deconstructed and poetic rhythm. In their short career, they have received wide praise from the specialist press. “Parte” was included in the lists of best national albums, by publications such...

Tradition and innovation are united by the hands of Ana Lua Caiano. The artist explores musical fusion, through the combination of traditional Portuguese music with electronic and “day-to-day sounds”. Creating melodies that refer to tradition - making use of choirs, harmonies and canons - in a union with synthesizers, beat machines and sounds taken from everyday life, his music brings the traditional Portuguese heritage to the modern, electronic and technological world. Live, she performs as a “one-woman show” with a synthesizer, a loop station, a microphone, a bass drum and several percussive...

Sérgio Alves, a keyboardist and producer from Porto, is presenting his new personal project: Azar Azar, after having worked with talents such as Groovelvets, Marta Ren, Capicua, Dealema, Maze, Virtus or Minus & Mr. Dolly. In addition to his recognised connection to the roots of black music and consequent mastery of languages such as jazz, soul or funk, Sérgio Alves combines a unique sensibility that he began to develop when, still very young, he began playing records in his father's small disco. His continued exposure to hip hop, house or broken beat forms an integral part of this rich musical...

Linda Martini has stood out as a key band in the Portuguese music scene over the last 20 years – and is still together in 2023. Over the past two decades, the band has cemented a cult following, which accompanies them from north to south of Portugal. The band’s concerts are true moments of communion, in which the audience and band celebrate and sing their most iconic songs in unison. Year after year, the band has provided its cult fan base with popular albums, that have always been very well received by the critics. 2023 is a year of celebration. 20 years on the road and with albums to rediscover....

EVAYA is the producer, composer and singer, Beatriz Bronze. Her first EP, “intenção”, released in 2020, was part of the FNAC New Talents 21 compilation. In 2022 she participated in Gerador’s National Exhibition of Young Artists. Her aesthetic language primarily explores musical genres such as avant-pop and ethereal pop, using the tools of danceable and experimental electronics, writing songs about the laws of nature – the timelessness and formlessness of being and the mystical dimensions of our emotions.

Rita Sampaio is a singer and songwriter from Braga, known for her solo work IVY and as the founder of the band, Grandfather’s House. She is now exploring new territories with Isa Leen. Even though a relatively recent presence on stage, Isa Leen conveys a mature and contagious energy. She is masterful and knowledgeable of her space, vocals and body in her solo performances. She brings the dimension of a performer to the stage, and also of a producer and instrumentalist, in a performance that combines songs, remixes by other artists and more intense instrumental moments.

“Real and Indisputable” is the refrain that inevitably describes Cave Story, an art-rock/post-punk band from Caldas da Rainha. Over the years the band has modelled an extensive vocabulary of minimalist tunes, brimming with wit and joy, reinvigorating the language of rock and pop in a comprehensive exercise marked by deliberately autonomous working methods of recording, production and experimentation. "Sing Something for Us Now", the first single from the band's new LP, "Wide Wall, Tree Tall", is an energetic and satirical statement of their identity as artists and musicians.

Ledher Blue was set up in Guimarães, by Zé (José Filipe Costa) and Pedro Duarte. After a period of self-taught training, they recorded their first songs and released some of them online, to a surprisingly warm reception. They then recorded an EP, free of the virtual dimensions with which they had improvised, after completing a residency in the Portuguese interior. The two members of Ledher Blue are diametrically opposed: in terms of their musical tastes, aesthetic sense or even their way of life. Their music thrives on this tension which, they believe, fosters a unique result.

In April 2022 the Portuguese producer St. James Park (Tiago Sampaio), Dutch pianist Daniël Tomàs (Daniël vd Duim) and Dutch/German vocalist Eliën (Élénie Wagner) met during a residency at the showcase festival Westway Lab in Guimarães Portugal. Matched by the festival's artistic team, the three musicians went into an intensive seven-day collaboration and created new material for a showcase during the opening of Westway Lab 2022. Due to the great success during their show, the band decided to continue and form a band. X IT was born. Since then, the trio wrote its first EP and worked on their upcoming...

French-Irish singer-songwriter Yann Cleary uses machines, traditional instruments and toys to create bittersweet art pop and sensitive folk. After a series of albums recorded in Tokyo, Cleary released “Follow you”, a chronicle of his unplanned return to Europe, where personal history echoes global societal mutations, between collapsology, Made in China toys and migrants’ destinies. The 2022 Westway Lab residency alumni will return to Guimarães for the 10th anniversary of the festival to perform live his new EP “I want to go home”.

Ezpalak is an alternative rock band formed by Eñaut Gaztañaga, who has already worked with artists such as Izaro, Olatz Salvador or Dupla. In Ezpalak, he is joined by Juanjo Berasain (vocals), Unai Eizagirre (bass) and Janardana Iglesias (drums). The band’s second album, “Kolpatu Topatu”, retains much of the same lustre as their self-titled debut album. The songs share Nineties influences – evoking the likes of Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. or Nirvana – but their rhythms are much more rock and danceable, with hints of garage and grunge music, forming a set of sounds that keep us on our feet and invite...

A musician and writer with a career spanning over twenty years, Nacho Vegas is one of the most respected voices in Spanish popular music. His songs- luminous and organic, with a critical and combative spirit - have rooted themselves in the collective musical imagination, establishing Nacho Vegas as one of the great references of auteur songs and independent music. His most recent album, “Immobile worlds collapsing”, is a stronghold of intimacy in dark times, in which the musician opens up in each song, revealing a complex inner world, reinventing himself in the 21st century with a sound that emerges...

Like all good rap music, La Furia's songs are direct, blunt and tell the truth with clenched fists. La Furia's most recent work, “Pecadora”, is “a pitched battle of waste”, with a mouthful of sin, with more danceable rhymes than ever, without any borders or stylistic dogmas. It is as political and communal, as it is personal. Because his sin is to be alive on this “carousel of the dead”. Instead of dying, La Furia prefers to kill. “Pecadora” (Sinner) is a look at the past, the future and a very continuous present. It is almost an examination of conscience by an artist who works outside the industry,...

Rita Vian explores her vocals and composition in a broad spectrum between electronics and tradition. Fado is a very important chapter in her artistic expression, and urban music is the other side of her work. Branko's remix of her single "Sereia" introduced Rita Vian to a broader audience. This was followed by “Purga”, which features a video directed by João Pedro Moreira (Buraka Som Sistema, Regula, Dino D`Santiago). Rita Vian's paths of creative exploration are as unexpected as they are breath-taking. Her most recent EP, CAOS'A, consists of five songs, produced by Branko. New songs will be unveiled...

Catarina Munhá can't help but write songs, and she believes that music can change the world for the better. As a singer-songwriter, she expresses herself through music and Portuguese lyrics, that go hand in hand in a kind of indie-pop intervention. She released her debut album, “Animal de Domesticação”, in 2019, which includes humorous and restless songs, accompanied by the tropical sound of her ukulele, an unusual violin and occasional melancholic keys. She returned in 2022 with a new single, “Cópia Pirata”, and promises to continue to write songs that make us question who we are and who we want...

Criatura is an eclectic band of musicians, artists and people who are dedicated to re-visiting the popular memory of the territory they inhabit and that from it proposes to create music and art that is born from other ways of looking, feeling and being tradition. After editing their first album “Aurora” in 2016, they now present “Bem Bonda” in 2021. A record that focuses on the breaking of cultural patterns that are saturated and out of sync with the Portuguese reality.