Before his appearance at the festival ceremony, Sampha He told us where his music, style and inspiration come from.
“It’s about being an individual. And existential problems. Also about loss.”
Sampha’s music deals intensively with the concept of connection.
“By connection I mean that we influence each other. My words affect you and yours affect me. Everything is connected”.
The connection between present and future
His music explores these human connections with time, nature and other people. On his latest album “Lahai” he explores his own connection to his ancestors and also his future.
“Recognize this connection to my ancestors and my future. I’m just a part of this story, just a chapter.”
Sampha, singer-songwriter and electronic music producer originally from Morden, UK andx explores these connections using a non-linear concept of time, in which the past is connected to the future.
“I like the idea that the past can be spoken to the future.”
These concepts give Sampha’s work the depth and uniqueness with which we recognize his style, which he describes as “impressionistic, colorful, human, cosmic and experimental.”
Sampha’s creative process
Sampha’s creative process and his idea of time do not follow a linear path, as he told us in the interview The experience of being alive is what inspires his art.
“Life. I just see what worries me, what I’m comfortable with and what I’m not comfortable with. Also try to challenge myself and not be so hard on myself when I don’t achieve my goals.”
His artistic development coincided with another key point in his life: becoming a father, and that changed his take on it all, but he says it’s difficult to describe the magnitude of this change.
“It’s hard to say because experience is always the hardest to articulate. As a father, I have thought a lot of profound things and changed my perspective on life. Well, he carries on.”
Sampha and the act of creating
For Sampha, the act of creating comes naturally, as does his connection to music.
“I have always had a connection to dance and sound. Dancing was my first introduction to music, before instruments or singing. “I remember having a deep connection.”
“Creating is something I love. For me, the act of creating is something special. It’s partly something you do without thinking, it just flows.”
The artist explained to us what it was like to create for him. It’s about connecting with the “flow” that is nourished by all your experiences: “What you create comes from a filter of all your personal experiences, although nothing is original is the way you express it.” , this very special thing that expresses it becomes something more.”
The magic lies in the secret of the future
Plans are not in Sampha’s nature, It’s about starting and continuing until you see what comes out. And a very important part of this process is connections.
“Sometimes I feel like I have an idea of what I want to sound like, but sometimes I have no idea, and that’s the magic.”
“My album is collaborative, just like everything in life. The older I get, the more I realize that what makes me special is the connection I have with my band, the people I meet, the conversations I have, and that pure connection with the public.”
At the end of our interview, Sampha gave us a little preview of the show he will be presenting this weekend Festival ceremony in Mexico City.
“There will be musicians on stage interacting with each other and trying to connect with the audience. “It’s about feeling that collective energy.”