Watch: Sampa The Great - Never Forget feat. Chef 187, Tio Nason & Mwanjé

After dropping Lane featuring Denzel Curry and our subsequent Pilerats feature interview, today the unstoppable force who is Sampa The Great gives us the triple whammy of a new single, music video and album announcement, with her second full-length As Above, So Below dropping on September 9.

The new single is Never Forget, with Sampa saying of the track “Never Forget is an ode to Zamrock music, a genre born in the 70’s combining traditional Zambian music and psychedelic rock. In particular, the song focuses on kalindula music. This tribute was inspired by the band WITCH and their lead singer Mr Jagari Chanda, who has become one of my musical mentors. 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. 

It hit home for me as I felt similarities in my own journey, having had my career take off outside my birth country. 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. 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 we’ve come to know and love from Sampa, Never Forget features a stunning music video starring Sampa and all the tracks feature artists, with intricate choreography in darkly lit spaces contrasted by archival footage of 70s Zambian life.  Creative Director and Director Rharha Nembard says: “Never Forget pays homage to the past, present and future. Acknowledging the ones that have came before, in order for us to be here today. When I first heard the song, the notion of time came up so strongly. African time has always been non linear and cyclical.

The vision for this video was to explore that notion of time, merging past , present and future simultaneously in a harmonious symphony that honours and pays respect to those that have passed the baton and paved the way for the the next generation of Zambian artists. Sampa carries the past, present and future of Zambian music. She stands on the shoulders of giants and this our offering to them.”

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