Abel Lima e Les Sofas cantam Nos Bida (1977)


Abel Lima is a singer from Cabo Verde islands, forced to clandestine imigration by boat at age of 13 to escape the totalitarian regime.
He came back 16 years later, when Cabo Verde became independant in 1975, as politically engaged with PAIGC (Amilcar Cabral's African Party for Independance of Guinea an Cabo Verde).
In the liner notes, Abel Lima explains the evolution of his home village Povoaçao: he quit a small peaceful village and when he came back he discovered only desolation as more sophisticated foreign fishing boats were fishing extensively, letting local people without any resources. In parallel, he also explains through his own experience how hard being an imigrant is, due to mistreatment and exploitation.
A very engaged artist, which seems to be compatible with raw funky tune...


Abel Lima e Les Sofas - Corre riba corre baixo:

Bernard Brito (Joaozinho): bass
Serge Neves: drums
Abel Lima: voice
Afonso Evora (Martinho): guit
Nouhoun Coulibaly: voice, tumba
Admir Evora (Mimis): guit, recoreque