As a child he wanted to be a priest and in 1957 at the age of 11 entered a seminary of the White Fathers (a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life), where his talent for music was recognized.

He began learning the organ and piano, within a European classical canon that included Gregorian chants, Mozart and Chopin;[1] his concert debut was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

[2] His mostly electronic album Medecine was recorded in London with producer Martin Meissonnier and featured Tony Allen on the song "Peupleyo".

In 1992 he spent time in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, writing the opera Un Touareg s’est marié avec une pygmée with Cameroonian Werewere Liking, and also that year worked with German pianist Joachim Kuhn to record Euro African Suites.

In 1997, Lema recorded the album Bulgarian Voices with the choir of the Pirin Folk Ensemble, and composed The Dream of the Gazelle for a Swedish chamber orchestra.