Australian hip-hop artist Sampa the Great has made history by becoming the first person to win the Australian music prize twice.
Her 2019 album The Return was announced on Friday as the latest winner of the prestigious $30,000 award – only two years after she first won for 2017 album Birds and the BEE9.
It is the first time in the prize’s 15-year history that an artist has won multiple times. Previous winners include Gurrumul, Augie March, Courtney Barnett and AB Original.
On Friday the Melbourne-based musician thanked the judging panel for recognising an album “not written for radio play or commercial appeal” that dealt with themes of migration and displacement.
“The fact that I’m able to create my most vulnerable music and have it supported over the years has been amazing,” she said. “I want to thank the AMP for recognising the music and stories behind The Return.
“It was written to bring to light the journey of a person who began her career in a country far away from home. It was to bring to light the sense of displacement felt in that journey and in a global sense throughout the world.”
Born in Zambia, Sampa Tembo moved to Australia in 2014 (via the US) and broke into the music scene with her debut mixtape, The Great Mixtape.
On Friday one of the music prize judgees, Phil Jamieson from the band Grinspoon, said The Return was “an absolute magnificent work of art” in a “sensational shortlist”.
Also nominated for this year’s prize were Julia Jacklin, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Thelma Plum, and Amyl & the Sniffers.
“I would like to thank everyone behind The Return,” Tembo said. The executive producer … The community within the music. My parents and my family.”
Last year Tembo won the Aria award for best hip-hop release for single Final Form from The Return.
