Jorge Palma honored with Lifetime Achievement at PLAY Awards 2024
Musician Jorge Palma Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award at 8th PLAY – Portuguese Music Awards
Jorge Palma was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Prize at the 8th PLAY – Portuguese Music Awards during a ceremony at Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios. The event also recognized artists such as Mizzy Miles, Sara Correia, Napa, and Calema.
The Lifetime Achievement Award, determined by Audiogest—the organization managing and representing the rights of multinational, national, and independent record labels and the promoter of the PLAY Awards—was presented to Palma by Alberto Santos, Portugal's Secretary of State for Culture.
Visibly moved and wearing a red carnation, Palma began by thanking everyone who had supported him throughout his life, singling out "the professionals of the National Health Service [SNS] who do so much with so little."
The musician recalled that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro had once stated that "culture in Portugal is systematically undervalued and overlooked," adding that he is "waiting for real, effective reform so that our efforts are not in vain."
Palma urged the audience not to let the spirit of the April 25th Revolution—Portugal's 1974 democratic uprising—"fade into a distant memory, a vanishing image." Instead, he called for its reinvention: "Freedom, justice, democracy—we must always uphold the spirit of April. Let's roll up our sleeves and make this country what it deserves to be, better. Long live April 25th, long live freedom, long live democracy!"
Secretary of State for Culture Alberto Santos described honoring Palma as "celebrating one of the rarest voices in Portuguese music," an artist who "created an inner world where so many have lived." He praised Palma for building "an unmistakable and enduring signature in Portuguese music, always with freedom at its core."
Before receiving the award, Palma was honored with a musical tribute featuring performances by Tim, Sérgio Godinho, Marisa Liz, Miguel Luz, Inês Marques Lucas, and his sons, Vicente and Francisco Palma. Together, they performed classics such as "Canção de Lisboa,""Dá-me Lume,""Bairro do Amor,""Portugal, Portugal,""Frágil," and "A Gente Vai Continuar."
