Ricardo J. Martins was born in Faro on February 3, 1984. Always influenced by various musical genres he found in Portuguese Guitar how to express his sonorous feelings.

Since the first hearing of Carlos Paredes songs, the sound of this instrument showed him the musical path to follow.

Although mostly dedicated to accompany Fado, he sees in Portuguese Guitar an enormous capacity as a solo instrument, playing both the Lisbon Guitar and the Coimbra Guitar.

He recorded in the year 2014 his first instrumental Portuguese Guitar album called “Ricardo J. Martins”, essentially made of adaptations of themes outside the musical environment of Portuguese Guitar and versions of typical songs of the instrument with own arrangements. From this disc stands out the original theme and single “Danças na Eira”.

Constantly in search of new ways to the instrument, composing and playing, but always without forgetting the roots he edited in 2017 the successor album with the name “Cantos e Lamentos”.

This work counts with several special participations of musicians and instruments outside the Fado, as it is the case of the recorder, accordion, lyrical voice and percussions, as well as different musical experiences, giving to this work a unique personal stamp that goes from the music Traditional Portuguese music to classical music.

In April 2018 his song “Corre Corre Corridinho” won the prize for “Best Instrumental Music” by the IPMA (International Portuguese Music Awards).

In 2021 he released is third CD – “Escapismo” – the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy.

The music video for the song “Escapismo” that was filmed in Loulé’s Salt Mine by videographer Paulo Matos was awarded for Best Video by GEOARTE Festival organized by Portuguese Association of Geologists.

Throughout 11 original themes made for Portuguese Guitar from Lisbon and Coimbra with titles such as: Euphoria, Escapism, Ballad for those who left, Study in D Minor, The Gesture of the Wind, Chora Chorinho, Vira Virou, Alvorada, Visions of the Lower World, Coimbra or Santa Cecília we feel this “Escapism” that takes us to such varied musical environments and that makes us travel to remote imaginaries.

Meanwhile, in 2022, a new challenge arose, at the invitation of Silves City Council, to prepare something together with the Blues/Rock guitarist Vítor Bacalhau.

From this union integrated in the promotion of the Algarvensis Geopark emerged “TerraSul”, an unusual mix of two musical genres with popular roots, such as Fado and Blues, recording in 2022 the first EP entitled “Encruzilhada” and in 2024 the homonymous album “TerraSul”.

In his musical career he presented his music in the most different countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Romania, Holland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Serbia, England, Germany, United States of America, Sweden, Canada, China, Ucrânia, India, Venezuela, Kenya, Ethiopia, Albania, Estonia, Australia, Italy, Morroco, Switzerland and Cape Verde.

He had the privilege of playing with great names of our musical panorama as is the case of Viviane (Entre Aspas), Marco Rodrigues, Filipa Cardoso, Ana Sofia Varela, Ilda Maria, Cremilda Medina (Carpe Verde), Ronda dos Quatro Caminhos, Alexandra, Carla Pires, Daniel Pereira Cristo, Nuno Guerreiro, Asad Khan (India), Sharat Chandra Srivastava (India), Juan Farinha (Spain), Fatima Kortobi (Morroco), Cuca Roseta, Alexandra and Pedro Jóia Trio.

In 2024 Ricardo released “Ela…Só” (Her… Alone). A solo Portuguese Guitar work without any accompaniment.

This work has the participation of the musicians Claudio Sousa (Classical Guitar), Luís Trindade (Bass – Vítor Bacalhau), Nelson Conceição (Accordion), Matt Lester (Transverse Flute), Paulinho Lêmos (Guitar), Natália Boechat (Tambourine), Adriano Alves “Dinga” (Bass – Mariza), Francis Matas (Drums), Bárbara Santos (Cello), Hugo Gamboias (Portuguese Guitar – Fado to the Center, In.dia), Amadeu Magalhães (Cavaquinho – José Cid, Dulce Pontes, Fausto), Luís Peixoto (Bouzouki and Accordion – Júlio Pereira, Ana Bacalhau), Rui Rodrigues (Drums – Dona Carioca, Big Fat Mamma) and the Sevillian soprano Angeles Nuñez (Cantica, Sephardica).

He is currently developing his next work – Portuguese Guitar and String Quartet