"Lisboa kuya (Lisbon is cool)", sang Sara Tavares, providing a perfect theme song for this year's Portuguese Atlantic Waves festival. What's more, she was right. Lisbon is now one of the great musical centres of the world, thanks to its blend of home-grown fado, an experimental rock scene and the great music of the African community, who have moved to the city from the former colonies - most especially Cape Verde, off the African west coast.

The islands have already produced one international superstar, the soulful Cesaria Evora, but there's a new generation of Lisbon-based Cape Verdeans, like Lura, who have set out to mix Evora's morna or coladeira styles with influences from elsewhere in Africa and beyond. Sara Tavares is already snapping at Lura's heels - she has just been nominated for the newcomer category in next year's World Music Awards - though on this showing, she hasn't yet developed quite the same range, despite the variety of influences that she mixes into her charmingly slinky, low-key songs.

The first part of her set was a delight. A quietly confident young lady in a long, sleeveless red dress, she sat on stage playing first the mbira, the African thumb piano, and then the acoustic guitar, while demonstrating a cool, light and breathy vocal style that veered effortlessly into scat and jazz. Her band featured delicate, minimalist percussion and thoughtful guitar work from her celebrity backing singer, Boy Ge Mendes, who effortlessly followed the twists and turns of her songs, from different African styles through to a dash of samba and reggae. The second set (in which she and her band were now standing) was more rousing, but showed her limitations. She has a glorious voice, but needs to show a little less restraint, and a tougher edge on her more up-beat songs. Then she should prove unstoppable.