In recent years, Brazil has received an unprecedented migratory flow that has transformed its cultural landscape. Since 2016 we have accompanied some of these migrants, in particular African musicians and artists who have been performing and making their way professionally in the city of São Paulo, affectionately known as ‘Sampa’.

Playing with the name of the 1966 album in which Baden Powell “Rio-fied” candomblé with the Afro-sambas he composed with Vinícius de Moraes, we named this research project on the African creative diaspora Afro-Sampas.

Here we bring together the films we make with African artists in their encounters with the São Paulo scene – Tabuluja (Wake Up!), Woya Hayi Mawe (Where are you going), and Afro-Sampas – with photographic essays, an archive of sounds and images of concerts, performances, interviews and clips with the artists.

We also present the artists who make up this scene, Africans in São Paulo from countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Angola, Togo, São Tomé e Príncipe as well as Brazilians who live in Sampa.

Afro-Sampas comes from the project “Making African music and cultural heritage in São Paulo”, developed within the FAPESP Thematic Project “Local Music: new trails for Ethnomusicology” (2016 / 05318-7), with the support of the Pro-Rectory of Culture and Extension at the University of São Paulo through the 5th Santander / USP / FUSP EDITION to Promote Culture and Extension Initiatives.