Sampa The Great has revealed details of her long-awaited second album, As Above, So Below. The record was previewed at the award-winning performer’s An Afro Future shows in Sydney and Melbourne last month. As Above, So Below charts a period of healing and self-discovery for the artist born Sampa Tembo. The first taste of As Above, So Below arrives today in the form of the new single, ‘Never Forget’.
As Above, So Below follows on from Sampa The Great’s ARIA Award and Australian Music Prize-winning debut album, The Return – an album that put Sampa The Great on the radar globally. Most recently, the Zambian artist brought the Afro Future vision to Glastonbury, where she and her band became the first Zambian artists to perform on such an iconic festival bill.
Sampa The Great – ‘Never Forget’ (ft. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé)
‘Never Forget’ is Sampa’s ode to Zamrock, the prolific genre of art and music that became a blueprint for many Zambian artists following its prevalence in the 1970s. The music video, directed by Rochelle Nembhard and Imraan Christian, is as striking as the audio itself. The clip features archival footage of Zambian life from this period, as well as a cinematic sequence of shots of Sampa and her collaborators.
“This tribute was inspired by the band WITCH and their lead singer Mr Jagari Chanda, who has become one of my musical mentors,” Sampa said of the song and video. “I discovered Zamrock later in my life and was surprised that this music was known globally, yet not fully celebrated and acknowledged in Zambia today.”
Sampa felt somewhat similarly about her own music career, given her career took off after moving to Australia. “I thought it was fitting to pay homage to those who came before me and merge past, present and future through music and imagery; passing the baton from one generation to the next,” she said. “The archival footage in the clip includes the late great Paul Ngozi, the late president Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia’s first president) and the legendary WITCH.”
As Above, So Below is set for a worldwide release on Friday, September 9th.
Further Reading
RISING Festival Launches In Melbourne CBD w/ Sampa The Great’s ‘An Afro Future’
