- Off the back of such a strong record as The Return I was a bit surprised to find one of Australia’s most impressive hiphop talents, Sampa The Great, playing the venerated -but not exactly huge- room upstairs at The Woolly Mammoth. The upside of putting the show there was that the place was packed and, on top of that, the whole crowd very enthusiastic to hear what Sampa had brought with her, returning from her epic journey, back to Africa and her roots in Botswana.
It was a very different sort of gig from the last time I heard her live, which was a few years back and over in the echoing bathroom that is GOMA, ably back by the experimental beats of her then regular DJ co-conspirator Godriguez. Although he’s actually proven himself very capable as a bluesy, live musician in recent years, Sampa -who seems to have access to a list of collaborators as long as the phonebook- brought her own, full live band to deliver the soulful, boom-bap sound that winds its way through much of her recent music.
That’s the kind of set they opted for, too: most of it slow, moody, really tapping into the feel of the music, rather than knocking the audience back with thunder. New material dominated and Sampa certainly has enough: The Return has about twice as much to choose from as you could fit into your average set.
The song Brand New delivered a memorable moment, as the band took their turn soloing. The trio of backing singers were competent, but maybe not quite up to the Mariah Carey kind of acrobatics that were called for. This was brought sharply into focus when the guitarist, who seemed to stall -perhaps a little embarrassed- then just went ‘okay’ with a shrug and busted out some kind of insane BB King **** that had the crowd screaming wildly.
The end of the set continued the momentum, Sampa saved two of the most energetic hotshots from The Return for a big finish. The breakneck pace of OMG had the whole room dancing even though there was no room to do so, before album centrepiece and empowerment anthem Final Form was served up as an encore.
At that moment it was hard to imagine a more appreciative crowd, but that last number did highlight a weird thing, which made me think of the whole reason Sampa undertook her journey back to Africa -that great trek to find herself and somewhere she really belonged- culminating in the creation of The Return. As the room, stuffed full of white people, sang along with gusto and bellowed “black power!” again and again, it was just a bit strange; how did a song like this belong to white Australians at all? It made me think that if even this, the most positive of receptions, comes laced with an odd feeling of distance, then it must be an isolating and often alienating experience to be Sampa The Great, living in Australia; especially when we know how nasty the nation can be when it thinks no-one is looking.
However imperfect the connection must necessarily be, I’m really glad that Sampa -who has and continues to live in many places- decided to come back to this country and share such powerful moments. We’re lucky to have her and she truly is great.
- Chris Cobcroft.