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Raul Alberto Dias

Raul Alberto Dias moved from Guinea-Bissau to Yugoslavia in 1982 to study Chemistry at the University of Belgrade. Originally from Bissau, he had already been active as a musician since his teenage years.

 

Soon after arriving in Yugoslavia, he began performing with fellow countrymen and became involved in the local music scene. A turning point came with his encounter with the renowned Serbian musician Veljko Nikolić (Papa Nik). Through this collaboration, Dias joined Institut YAP (Yugoslav African Partnership) and started performing regularly at the Museum of African Art (Muzej afričke umetnosti) in Belgrade, which became an important platform for the promotion of African music and culture in Yugoslavia.

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After nearly a decade of collaborating with Institut YAP, Dias co-founded the band Baga Baga in 1993–94. The group, composed mainly of Serbian musicians, focused on African musical traditions and contemporary African sounds.

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In 1999, he founded So Sabi, a band that gradually expanded its repertoire from West African music to include reggae and Latin influences. Over the years, So Sabi grew both in size and instrumentation, released three albums, and performed extensively throughout Serbia and Montenegro, including appearances at major music festivals like Exit in Belgrade and Nišville Jazz Festival in Niš. In addition to his work with So Sabi, Raul Alberto Dias has collaborated with numerous musicians and projects across different genres and continues to perform as both a bandleader and an independent artist. Raul Alberto Dias is well-known in Serbia and has frequently appeared on TV.

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Records

Album Lepo Vama Lepo Nama – Live (2001)


Album Porque Non Me Queires (2003)


Album Sabura (2005)

Archived Recordings

Archive of RTS – Radio-Television Serbia

 

Some TV programs produced by RTB featured Raul Alberto Dias’s performances or interviews, among which: 

  • the episode “Afro eksplozija zvuka” of the RTS program Obrazovno ogledalo

  • the episode of the RTS program Muzicki klub dedicated to the band So Sabi 

  • the episode of Studio znanja dedicated to good and bad aspects of summer (“dobre i lose strane leta”) broadcast in June 2018 with, as guests, the band So Sabi and Raul Alberto Dias and the performance of the songs “Chiwawa” and “Asama Fu”

  • episodes in the RTS programs City Folk and Muzički tok


 

Other recordings and performances

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Numerous of his performances were filmed and can be found on the internet. An exhaustive survey is almost impossible to achieve and here are listed the most relevant sources.

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Other interviews and performances

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Written Sources and References

  • Sladojević, Ana and Nebojša Babić. 2008. A in B. Belgrade: Muzej afričke umetnosti.

 

Credits

Website connected to

DFG-supported research project "Black Musics in the (Former) Yugoslav Region"

Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Department of Musicology

Dr. Linda Cimardi

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© 2026 Linda Cimardi / Website setup by Julian Müller

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