BORN in 1944, Pedro Lima’s musical career began as teenager with his family band Os Leonenses. Lima was one of the very few singers and bands from Sao Tome & Principe who recorded in Luanda, Angola for the N’Gola and Merengue labels in the 1970s and in Lisbon, Portugal for IEFE Records in the 1980s.

“His music is wonderfully rich and delicate, though quite minimalistic in arrangements, revealing the subtle melodies of the islands’ harmonic and backing vocals traditions.”

He and his band played a rich mix of Congolese soukos and Nigerian and Ghanaian highlife, with harmonic backing vocals laid down on energetic Puxa and rhumba rhythms with rippling guitars and sung in Portuguese creole.

He always made very clear his political views on the country’s internal affairs, and his support for the revolutionary MLSTP (Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Príncipe – Social Democratic Party) who helped gain independence from Portugal in 1975 earned him the title of “the people’s voice of the island.”  

After the April 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal, the new government agreed to hand over power to the MLSTP.

When he died in in January 2019 his funeral was the biggest ever organised on the island, and was paid for by ex-president Pinto da Costa, with thousands attending.  

The Swiss Bongo Joe label (named after the Geneva record store of the same name) have just released Recordar e Viver — Antologia Volume 1, consisting of rare and unreleased tracks from the 1980s when Lima was at the peak of his powers.

Bongo Joe have previously released the compilation Leve Leve Sao Tome & Principe Sounds 1970s​-​1980s and hard to find solo album, Maguidala — more hidden treasures of African music unearthed.