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Sampa The Great wins the 2019 Australian Music Prize

6 March 2020 | 9:23 am | Emma Jones

Sampa The Great has taken out The Australian Music Prize for the second time with her 2019 album, 'The Return', winning the award and $30,000.

SAMPA THE GREAT has taken out the 2019 Australian Music Prize for her incredible album, The Return. Not only does she get serious bragging rights for winning the award, she also receives a very well-deserved $30,000.

Having already won the prize previously in in 2017 for Birds and the BEE9, this makes Sampa The Great the only artist to have ever taken out the award twice in its fifteen year history.

“The fact that I’m able to create my most vulnerable music and have it supported over the years has been amazing! I want to thank the AMP for recognising the music and stories behind The Return," said Sampa The Great.

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“The Return was not written for radio play or commercial appeal. 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. It allowed me to tell my full story - without having it told for me. I thank the AMP for looking at solely the music and judging only that. As in this day and age it seems that is not the norm.”

“I would like to thank everyone behind The Return. The executive producer of The Return, Silent J. The community within the music. The authors behind the soul of the music. My parents and my family."

Fellow nominees in the AMP shortlist included Julia Jacklin's Crushing, Sleep D's Rebel Force, Methyl Ethel's Triage and Thelma Plum's Better In Blak.

Words by Emma Jones

Image by Barun Chatterjee

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