André Rodrigues Mingas Júnior

André Vieira Dias Rodrigues Mingas Júnior, also known by his artistic name André Gasmin (24 May 1950 – 11 October 2011), was an Angolan musician, architect, urbanist, professor, and politician.

Biography Mingas was born on 24 May 1950 in Luanda, the son of André "Mongone" Rodrigues Mingas and Antónia Diniz de Aniceto Vieira Dias. Some of his other siblings were also prominent figures in Angolan history, namely politician, singer, and composer of the Angolan national anthem Ruy Mingas, linguist and teacher Amélia Mingas, athlete and administrator Júlia Rodrigues Mingas, police commander José "Zé" Rodrigues Mingas, and economist, writer, and politician Saíde Mingas. His first album was "Coisas da Vida", considered to be an important mark in Angolan popular music, mixing jazz, rock, and semba. Through this he also became a pioneer of the semba-jazz subgenre. Highlights of the album include "Esperança", "Mufete" e "Chipalepa".

By the 1970s, he began associating with artists such as Filipe Mukenga and Waldemar Bastos, both of whom strongly influenced him, primarily through the adoption of dissonance. Despite this, he was assigned, in 2006, to lead the reevaluation of the structural integrity of buildings in various neighborhoods around Luanda, as well as becoming responsible for the expansion of the neighborhoods of Talatona and Belas. He was later named the Angolan consul in São Paulo, Brazil. He was already in the city, but died before he could assume the position on 11 October 2011.