Cultural Exchange 3: Zambia to Ireland - August 2024
Zambian Artist ‘Sampa The Great’ performs at ‘Another Love Story’
The next cultural exchange will involve a Zambian music group (Sampa The Great) travelling to Ireland to headline a boutique Irish music festival ‘Another Love Story’ in Killyon Manor, Co. Meath on Friday 23rd August 2024. Sampa the Great have never performed in Ireland before, and will perform with a full dance group.
Excerpt from Sampa The Greats bio:
Sampa The Great is poised to be her highest self. In just a few short years, the Zambian artist (born Sampa Tembo) has established herself as one of global rap’s most compelling and outspoken voices, reaching new levels of recognition and acclaim with the release of 2022’s defining album As Above, So Below.
The 29-year-old recorded her sophomore album over the course of two weeks while back home in Zambia during the pandemic. As Above represents Sampa's outside self, while So Below translates the Sampa within, uniting to reveal the highest version of herself— honest, without a mask or role to play. To bring the album to life, she worked with a network of friends, family and Zambian creatives: Mag44 serves as the project’s executive producer and co-producers are Sampa Tembo (her first producer credit), Sam Nyambe, Sammy Masta and Solomon Plate. It’s a homecoming back to her roots as well as a mark of her growing beyond her borders. She is expansive — she transcends genres and expectations — as both an artist and as a woman.
The fusion of urgency and poignancy that can be heard on Sampa’s most recent material can be traced all the way back to the start of her career; beginning with The Great Mixtape in 2015, developing beautifully across the Heroes Act 2 project in 2017 and culminating this period with the breakthrough Birds and the Bee9 mixtape in the same year.
At the end of The Return’s album cycle, Sampa returned to Africa, relocating back to Zambia, where she has been based since 2020. The move informed her next chapter exponentially, forming the basis of her As Above, So Below era: a renewed love for the music she grew up on and reignited vigour to create music that added to her growing legacy.
At the centre of Sampa The Great’s artistic identity, is an inherent knowledge of and confidence in herself. The vivacity experienced at a Sampa live show is a pure extension of the personality and strength of the woman behind the music; an artist unafraid to move between sonic genre and mood, Sampa’s infusion of her own brand of boldness with her art, has made her an in-demand name.
A global artistic visionary in the truest sense of the term, Sampa The Great has brought the essence of her culture together with a powerful and forward thinking blend of sonic influences; creating a contemporary sound that has illuminated one of music’s most unique and exciting creative journeys.
There will be a special announcement of Sampa The Great performing at Another Love Story this year. This gives the festival the platform and opportunity to thank all of the stakeholders involved in making their performance possible
Sampa The Great is very excited about performing on this cultural exchange. Representatives from EHC management will also travel over to Ireland for the cultural exchange. They will get to see behind the scenes of one of Ireland's most prestigious music festivals, which also showcases a wide range of artists from Ireland's creative sector, including Graphic Design, Animation, Poetry, Art, Installations, food, lighting design and bespoke sound systems.