Mário Lúcio Sousa is founder and leader of the musical group Simentera, which marked a turning point back towards acoustic music in Cape Verde and claimed continental African culture as an element of Cape Verdean cultural identity.

He is a multi-instrumentalist and arranger of various albums by Cape Verdean solo artists. He is founder and director of the Quintal da Música Cultural Association, whose private cultural center works for the valorization of traditional music and children's access to learning and the promotion of their talents.

As a composer, he is a member of SACEM (Societé française des Droits d'auteur), with compositions recorded by Cesária Évora and other Cape Verdean artists. He is the permanent composer of the company Raiz di Polon, the only contemporary dance formation in the archipelago.

Some artists who have participated in Mário Lucio’s Works: Cameroon’s Manu Dibango, Senegal’s Touré Kunda, Brazil’s Paulinho Da Viola and Gilberto Gil, Portugal’s Maria João, Mário Laginha and Luis Represas.

His most recent solo album, Badyo, was released in 2004. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.