REVOLUTION SABAR now available on all platforms!

ABOUT SABAR

It is said that sabar drums were used by the village griots to communicate between towns several miles away. If a doctor was needed, the call would go out. The rhythm would move from village to village until a doctor was found and was sent along. Sabar is still a way to mark important events and to gather people together.

ABOUT THE ALBUM

Revolution Sabar is a drum-driven Afro-pop fusion album from the Senegalese percussionist composer, sabar maestro, drum maker and griot lineage holder Aba Diop. The record features the sparkling African lute-harp played by the renowned “Jimi Hendrix of kora” Noumoucounda Cissoko, jazz-inflected guitar riffs by New Yorker newcomer Jason Hosier, and bass virtuoso Thierno Sarr with support from Senegalese players Samba Ndokh, master of the tama drum, and smoldering backup vocals from Zeyna Diop. 

This explosively percussion-forward ensemble is the first to showcase the electrifying polyrhythms of the ancient sabar drum, the north star of the group: where even at live shows it is moved from the rhythm section to the middle of the stage. This is Aba Diop’s revolution.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

The percussion sounds are very much a language which communicates messages of healing and praise: the call-and-response stories and codes of thousands of years of oral tradition. Rhythmically the music is influenced by traditional West African polyrhythms, the modern, Latin-influenced syntax of Senegalese pop music known as “mbalax,” and Aba’s own original compositions. Melodically you hear the Sufi-influenced hovering microtonal singing and maqam scales accompanying the elastic, improvisational guitar styles found in the rock and jazz music of the west. 

From the hypnotic opening tune “Selebeyon” invoking the genie “djinn” at the crossroads, to the last song “Bellio Mbaye,” trance-like and woven with feminine energy, the music evokes ancient heartbeats with a modern soul. Each track erupts with layered precision and a prismatic “mystical, romantic vibe” (The Arts Fuse Magazine). For adventurous ears that love acts like Ali Farka Toure and Zakir Hussain, “Revolution Sabar” is a refreshing new take on “world music.”

ABOUT YERMANDE FAMILY

“Yermande” is a West African Wolof language word that means to have a good heart that wishes for all people to be treated like family. The dream of this album is to bring the healing medicine of the sabar ensemble to a broader audience through the rhythms that literally speak to the hearts of the listener: each beat is a word, an incantation of longing for a world where everyone is cared for, where everyone is family.

—Text by Rachael Rice