Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force

Mono presents...
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force

Ndagga Rhythm Force are, hands down, one of the most explosive African acts to see these days!

It all started in 2011 when Mark Ernestus (of Basic Channel, Rhythm & Sound and Hard Wax fame) travelled to Senegal in search of original Mbalax recordings and invited over 20 percussionists for a spontaneous recording session in Dakar. Mixed back in Berlin, the recordings came out on the 2012 twin albums “800% Ndagga" and "Ndagga Versions” under the “Mark Ernestus presents Jeri-Jeri” moniker - simply using the sabar drummers' clan name.

Since then, the project has evolved into something new in its own right: the group has become a killer live outfit, playing clubs and major festivals all across Europe and, in the process, outgrowing initial limitations. That has been reflected by the release of the critically acclaimed album "Yermande" in 2016, now under the new name Ndagga Rhythm Force. 

Their long-expected new album "Khadim" is set to be released in May 2025 on Ernestus’ own Ndagga imprint. It consists of four expansive, meandering tracks, reminiscent of Mark Ernestus’ earlier work with Rhythm & Sound.

Khadim is a stunning reconfiguration of the Ndagga Rhythm Force sound. The instrumentation is
radically pared down. The guitar is gone; the concatenation of sabars; the drum-kit. Each of the four tracks hones in on just one or two drummers; otherwise the sole recorded element is the singing; everything else is programmed. Synths are dialogically locked into the drumming. Tellingly, Ernestus has reached for his beloved Prophet-5, a signature go-to since Basic Channel
days, thirty years ago. Texturally, the sound is more dubwise; prickling with effects. There is a new spaciousness, announced at the start by the ambient sounds of Dakar street-life. At the microphone, Mbene Diatta Seck revels in this new openness: mbalax diva, she feelingly turns each of the four songs into a discrete dramatic episode, using different sets of rhetorical techniques. The music throughout is taut, grooving, complex, like before; but more volatile, intuitive and reaching, with turbulent emotional and spiritual expressivity.