Aquakultre: 1783 Live

Join us for a very special Pay-What-You-Can concert as Lance Sampson, aka Aquakultre celebrates the release of his groundbreaking album, 1783, which seamlessly blends a range of historically Black music, with hints of gospel, blues, jazz, and soul, mixed in with vintage R&B overtones.

An uncommonly versatile singer, rapper, filmmaker and storyteller from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Aquakultre came to national prominence in 2018 after winning CBC’s Searchlight songwriting competition with the second song he ever wrote.

1783 refers to the year when over 3000 people of African descent boarded 81 ships and sailed out of New York. These were the so-called Black Loyalists: some of them free people, many of them still enslaved, who fought for the British in exchange for the promise of land and freedom. Arriving in Nova Scotia, they were given the poorest housing, little food, few supplies. Yet they survived and went on to found Black settlements across the province.

Descended directly from those first settlers, Aquakultre has created this profound concept album that is deeply rooted in his own rich family history. The 17-track album comprises 11 full-length songs and six interludes, with each track describing Lance’s life, Black Nova Scotian history, family stories, and intergenerational reflections on carrying the torch passed on to him from elders, acting as a beacon of light for a brighter future.

Aquakultre: 1783 Live will feature a full band (guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, and multiple vocals) performing music from the album with production and stage elements drawn from Aquakultre’s 1783 Installation, a work he is creating as Artist-in-Residence at the Black Cultural Centre. Audiences will come away with full hearts, and a new understanding and appreciation of the contributions Black Nova Scotians have made and continue to make to our shared history.