History always has a way of informing the present, and Aquakultre has perfectly captured that feeling throughout his new album, 1783.
Lance Sampson, the mind and soul behind Aquakultre, has wholeheartedly embraced his family’s history. He has carried its weight on his shoulders as he fights a legal battle to see his great-great-grandfather, Daniel Sampson, cleared of a murder he didn’t commit.
He thinks back to racist sailors picking fights when they came to port, members of the No. 2 Construction Battalion writing home, and the generational trauma laden within his own family tree.
“It started with a year’s stint of research,” says Sampson. “That research was me wanting to develop what it really means to be Black, African Nova Scotian.
“The research really started with me not really having a solid answer of what that meant. If my kids or anybody were to ever ask me that question, would I have been able to answer that?”
Historical context
During the pandemic, Sampson delved deep into his lineage. He had conversations with family and elders in his community about African Nova Scotian history. Some of these conversations are documented through Sampson’s television show, Generations: Black Memories of Nova Scotia.
The stories he’s heard informed every part of 1783, named after the end of the American Revolutionary War, when over 3,000 Black Loyalists began to relocate to Nova Scotia. The track list of the album traces this history, and it all ties into how Sampson views his lineage, his community, and himself.
Produced by Erin Costello with collaboration from multiple different musical partners, including work from 2b Theatre’s Christian Barry, Jacob Sampson and Graham Scott in envisioning how 1783 would look and sound.
The single “Gallows” is a prime example of Sampson’s commitment to historical retellings, giving voice to his ancestor Daniel Sampson as he awaits his execution by hanging—an issue very close to Sampson as he continues to challenge his grandfather’s conviction, who was the last person to face the death penalty in Halifax back in 1935. With a gospel chorus and soulful expression, Sampson decries the racial injustice that led his grandfather to suffer such a fate.
“With creative liberty, if this happened to my great-great-grandfather, how does this affect the men in my family moving forward?” Sampson asks. “Most of the men in my family have experienced incarceration. I didn’t think about this when I was incarcerated for the first time.
“Now that I’ve done this research, I look at that time a bit differently,” says Sampson. “I’m looking at all these guards, all these police, all these old judges that could have potentially known about my great-great-grandfather’s case and are looking at me, and if they did know that information, why was there no mentorship?”
“There’s always been, within our community, a target on our backs, a playground for these police to do whatever they want.”
Sampson says performing “Gallows” takes a lot of energy, knowing that he is embodying his great-great-grandfather and placing himself in his shoes, hours before his execution.
“It’s powerful, and I’m honoured I get to respect him in that way.”
“Gallows” may be the most obvious example of Sampson looking back through history, but nearly every song has its context rooted in his family tree or the experiences of Black Nova Scotians. Songs like “Holy” and “No. 2 Construction Battalion” look back on the importance of sending letters during the war, which Sampson connects with from sending letters to family while incarcerated. “Keep Me Down” explores the rowdiness of American sailors coming to Halifax port and picking fights with locals, often to the detriment of Halifax’s Black community—one that Sampson can trace back through his lifetime, watching a friend take the fall for a stabbing during one of these brawls.
Family and place
While many songs connect a historical context with Sampson’s own experience, “The Avenue” acts as more of a tribute to Black settlements all over Nova Scotia: some that still exist, others left as remnants. The song refers to Crichton Avenue, a Black community within Dartmouth that has since been gentrified.
“It’s paying homage to a lot of the communities that might not exist anymore,” says Sampson. “Paying homage to the communities that used to thrive, but are no longer thriving.”
Perhaps the most personal connection made on the album is Sampson’s discussion of generational trauma manifesting in familial abuse. The track “Father’s Fresh Start” features a spoken word poem, with Sampson describing the paternal mistakes made in each generation, from his grandfathers to his, and his passion to overcome that trauma so his son can be a “good man.”
The theme of familial trauma continues on “I’ll Be Damned,” inspired by an uncle who himself had a troubled life impacted by abuse. Trying to overcome your past experiences and make a life for yourself, respecting both your old home and your new home, while learning to care for both your family and yourself. It’s one of the album’s most touching moments, with Sampson’s soaring vocals backed by a gospel chorus, piano, and acoustic guitars.
“Write honestly,” says Sampson. “Write the things that you might not want to share with folks. Write it down. Manifest it. If you want something, you write it down. You’re looking at it, and you say it back to yourself, you’re going to feel it.”
“What the journey of this record has done for me is it has allowed me to deal with things, like actually process things.”
The last track on the album, the single “Scotia Born” featuring Gary Beals and Hailey Smith, is a tribute to the African Nova Scotia community as a whole, based on all of the heritage and history Sampson has collected and interpreted throughout 1783 and beyond. It’s an anthem for Nova Scotia, and one Sampson hopes will reach every end of the earth.
“It’s just recognizing that we’ve been here,” says Sampson. “Shout out to Scotia. I’m trying to make it the anthem of Nova Scotia.”
1783 releases on major streaming platforms on Friday, Feb. 6. A listening party will be held at Morley’s Coffee-Taz Records in Dartmouth, where Sampson recorded the album. Sampson is also raising money at the moment to help fund his legal challenge to exonerate his great-great-grandfather, Daniel Sampson.