Isau Menese & Banda Likhuma

Isaú Meneses Biography

Isaú Meneses was born on January 7, 1962, in a village called Vila Perry, now the city of Chimoio.

The son of parents from the Caia district of Sofala province, Isaú began school at age 6, when he contracted blindness from measles.

In 1974, he returned to primary school at age 12, where he began learning to play the guitar his father had given him at age 8.

In 1976, he made his first public appearance as part of a youth band in Mafambisse, Dondo district. Around the same time, he began learning to play the keyboard.

However, he considers 1983 to be the beginning of his career, when he intensified his presence at musical shows in the coastal city. In 1984, he achieved a number one hit in the city of the same name. In 1985, he received an invitation from Poligramp, a Zimbabwean record company, to release an album, a request he declined to prioritize continuing his studies at the university.
In 1986, he enrolled in the sociology program at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, where he graduated in 1990.
However, he also attended a two-year music course at a private school, where he learned, among other subjects, keyboard and composition. He was also a tenor with the Lisbon choir of Rádio Renascença, a Portuguese Catholic radio station, from 1987 to 1990.
In 1999, he released his first album with Vidisco Portugal, entitled "Há Esperança," which earned a silver record. He subsequently released five more albums with Vidisco:
• Visões do Alem (2000);
• Nsolo wa ntsomba Nguani (2001);
• Tapi Djêe (2004);
• • Wankwanissa Gocha (2006);
• África, thangwi yandji!? (2008)
It's worth noting that his fourth album (Tapi Djêe) received platinum certification.
Due to his busy schedule, serving as a member of the National Assembly and completing his doctorate, Isaú Meneses took a brief hiatus from publishing, but continued to produce. After completing his parliamentary mission in 2010 and completing his doctorate in rural and urban sociology in 2011, he released his seventh album, Patchissa Pana Nfite, in 2013, and his eighth album, Piatekera (2017). In 2019, he produced his ninth album, Weza Ntsiko Za Mangwana (Think about the future), which was only released in 2022 due to technical constraints and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, he released his tenth album, Ndoita Lenhi!? (And Now What Do I Do?). Later, in 2024, he added his eleventh album, Pansi Pali ku Mala! (Planet Earth is Waning!), to his discography, followed by his most recent, his twelfth album, África Lamuka (Africa, Rise Up), released in 2025, all under his own publishing house. In addition to concerts in Mozambique, he has also performed internationally, notably in Portugal, South Africa, East Timor, and Zanzibar, where he participated in the Sauti Za Busara festival in February 2017, as well as in Reunion Island, where he participated in the IOMMA festival in 2018. More recently, in 2024, he...