The singer Sara Tavares has fond memories of playing at B.Leza. Nominated last year for a BBC world music award, she is one of the stars to have emerged from Lisbon's African scene.

Her parents moved from Cape Verde to Lisbon before she was born and she grew up listening to Western pop music, representing Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest at the age of 15. Now aged 30, she has rediscovered her African roots, and her latest album features a talented cast of African musicians.

“I used to listen to Stevie Wonder, American soul and R&B,” she told me. “Then I discovered all these great sounds from West Africa. My music has Cape Verdean and Angolan rhythms, and Portuguese influences, all cooked together in one pot.” The new sound of Lisbon could easily be a metaphor for the city itself.

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TAP Portugal (0845 6010932, www.flytap.com) has six flights daily to Lisbon from Heathrow and Gatwick, from £99 return.

Stay York House (00 351 21 396 2435, www.yorkhouselisboa.com), in a former Carmelite convent, has doubles from £120.

Information www.visitlisboa.com

African and fado music

Casa da Morna, Rua Rodrigues Faria 21, Alcântara (00 351 21 364 6399). Open Mon-Sat 8pm-2am.

Espaço Cabo Verde, Travessa do Fala Só 9 (00 351 21 342 0333). Live music Fri and Sat from 8.30pm.

Clube de Fado, Rua São João da Praça 94 (00 351 21 885 2704). Mario Pacheco's upmarket dinner club has fado from 9.30pm daily.

Sounds of Portugal

Fnac, in the Armazéns do Chiado shopping centre, has a wide range of Portuguese and African music - look under PALOP for music from Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Guinea-Bissau.

The outdoor stalls at the market on Praça de Espanha sell a wide range of African CDs.

Sons d'Africa (00 351 21 499 8230, www.sonsdafricapt.com) in the suburb of Damaia is a record label and shop specialising in African music.

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