From rock faithfuls to fado experimentalists, Portuguese alternative artists stepped into the 21st century with a new vitality. Swiftly responding to the garage revival led by US dynamos The Strokes, a flurry of bands in the 2000s injected the genre with a raw, vintage edge and blues rock brushstrokes. At the same time, Almada’s Oquestrada raised the voice of the suburbs, giving a sound long associated with Lisbon’s urban centre an uplifting melodiousness and urgency, while Mayra Andrade swept the scene with Cape Verdean flavours and Buraka Som Sistema experimented with electronic-driven kuduro.