REALLY GOOD STUFF
Ahead of her performance at Rhythm and Alps and Womad, Grant Smithies caught up with rising star, Sampa the Great.
Her parents only use her stage name as a joke. “They say things like, Sampa the Great, can you make dinner?” says Sampa Tembo via Zoom from her parents’ farm in Zambia.
“They think it’s hilarious”. But that stagename is hard-earned. Sampa the Great is coming to Aotearoa to headline two major festivals this summer, bringing her unique fusion of hip-hop, Zamrock and Afro-soul down our way after huge shows throughout Africa, a showcase on Glastonbury’s main stage, and support slots for Lauryn Hill, Thundercat and Kendrick Lamar.
Tembo was born in Zambia, raised in Botswana, and moved to Australia in 2013. Now 27, she was the first artist to win the $30,000 Australian Music Prize twice – for Birds and the Bee7 (2016) and The Return (2017) – before moving back to Zambia in 2020. “It is great to return to the place my musical inspiration comes from,” she tells me. “My music got noticed in Australia, but until I came back home, I always felt like a piece of myself was missing.”
Your new record As Above, So Below was made with African players, producers and guest artists. It feels like a document of a musical and spiritual homecoming, as well as a physical one.
A hundred per cent. When I relocated home, I met the producers whose music I grew up on. We started working together to expand what that music could be, rather than just recreate it. I was introduced to Zamrock, which is a mix of psychedelic rock and traditional Zambian kalindula music. That sound had been around since the 1970s at home and I somehow missed it. It turns out my uncle George was an early member of [Zamrock pioneers] Witch. That blew my mind.
After you won multiple awards there, you were routinely described as “an Australian rapper”.
Did that overshadow your African heritage?
It was strange to be winning those awards. I am not indigenous Australian nor was I raised there, so I didn’t have the life experience to speak on those things. Those communities need to tell their own stories. But I could at least make sure people realise there are diverse black stories in Australia and tell my own as a Zambian living there alongside all these other cultures. Even so, it felt like a heavy responsibility, and sometimes my African side was overlooked in the media. But I am Zambian, and once you erase that, you erase me.
W hat did you hope to achieve with As Above, So Below?
It was a full-circle moment for me. It feels like my past projects were me trying to prove or defend my heritage, but when I came back here, that armour just melted away. It was more a case of expressing the power and happiness my culture gives me, and to express with more vulnerability what it means to be an African artist but also a woman. At the heart of it, this new record is about reconnecting with yourself and your culture. There’s so much stress and pressure in this world, and your love for yourself can dwindle away because you’re just trying to survive. Sometimes you’re trying to make so many other people happy and fill their cups, you don’t notice that your own is empty. So I hope this record is a self-care love letter to everyone who hears it.
W hat can people expect of your live show?
I’m touring with a full band of Zambian musicians, bringing our culture and sounds to the world. People can expect a lot of energy, theatricality and strong stories, and a showcase of Zamrock and Afro-soul sounds on top of the hip-hop people already know me for. It’s a lot! This music is deep and intense, and that is a very good thing!
Sampa The Great plays Rhythm and Alps on December 31, and returns to play Taranaki’s WOMAD New Zealand 2023 on March 17-19
11/12/22