Sampa The Great has made her debut on NPR‘s widely beloved Tiny Desk performance series, and it’s as riveting and infectious as one might expect.
Performed in Zambia, where she’s currently living, Sampa opened her session by performing ‘Rhymes To The East’, taken from her 2017 mixtape Birds and the BEE9. Then, she delivered three tracks from her excellent debut album The Return – ‘Mwana’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Final Form’. Oh, and she’s backed by a seven-piece band, making each song huge.
This is the second time in recent months we’ve seen Sampa deliver a performance from Zambia. Late last year, she performed ‘Final Form’ on top of a roof for the 2020 ARIA Awards.
She was set to bring her live show back to Australia in the coming days, but was forced to cancel ‘An Afro Future’ in light of coronavirus spikes earlier this year.
“I’ve been waiting to hear better news around the changing border rules and lockdown for our Afrofuture shows in Australia,” Sampa said on social media.
“Unfortunately these shows can not go ahead until the climate gets better and I can bring my actual home crew with me.”
Watch Sampa’s Tiny Desk performance below.
