Walter Areia

Born in Pernambuco, a state in Northeast Brazil, he was a member of Mundo Livre S/A for 14 years, a pioneering band of the Mangue Beat movement in Recife, with which he received the "Order of Cultural Merit" in 2005 from the then Minister of Culture, Gilberto Gil. In 2012, he was awarded the "Brazilian Music Award".

Areia also collaborated with international names such as the Norwegian guitarist Steinar Aadnekvam; the Colombian maestro and saxophonist Antonio Arnedo and the co-inventor of Afrobeat, the African Tony Allen; in addition to sharing the stage with illustrious Brazilian artists: Arto Lindsay, Naná Vasconcelos, Alceu Valença, Otto, Nação Zumbi and DJ Dolores. In 2016, the Portuguese-Brazilian musician decided to definitively reconnect with his Portuguese mother's cultural heritage and moved to Lisbon, where he has had important musical encounters: Mara, Karlos Rotsen, Espírito Nativo, Carlos Menezes, Fred Martins, Pierre Aderne (Rua das Pretas), Valéria Carvalho, Larry John McNally, and Matteo Saggese are some of them. While performing on stage and in studios in these collaborations, Areia also develops workshops, such as the "Musica Aberta (Open Music)" workshop he presented at the Mimo festival in Amarante in 2017. Currently, the bassist frequently visits the world of Fado, performing in venues such as Clube de Fado and Adega Machado, while also pursuing his own composition projects in quartet, trio, and duo formats, with which he has achieved considerable recognition in the jazz scene, even performing at the "Ageas Cool Jazz" festival in 2025.