Headfirst Editor's Pick
"Pioneering globe-trotting sonics crafted from thundering Senegalese griot talking-drum polyrhythms and light dub-techno flourishes from the Basic Channel originator. Hypnotic, intoxicating afro-futurist marvels FFO: Nihiloxica, Rhythm & Sound, Chouk Bwa & the Ångströmers, Konono Nº1, Shangaan Electro."
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A gig held at Strange Brew on Friday 23rd August. The event starts at 19:00.
Strange Brew Presents
Mark Ernestus' NDagga Rhythm Force
+ Modou Ndiaye
Powered by the Firmly Rooted Soundsystem
Friday 23rd August
7pm - 10pm
BRISTOL DEBUT!
£10 / £12 / £15 adv
Mark Ernestus NDagga Rhythm Force:
Mbene Diatta Seck (vocals)
Mangone Ndiaye Dieng (drum kit)
Ibou Mbaye (keyboard)
Modou Mbaye (talking drum)
Fatou Wore Mboup (dance)
Bada and Serigne Mamoune Seck (sabar)
Ernestus supervising the mix
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force is a collaborative project between a revolving assembly of Senegalese sabar musicians and German techno pioneer Mark Ernestus (Basic Channel / Hard Wax), their hybrid sound honed through many iterations of intercontinental exchange. A 2007 encounter with a Gambian DJ team turned Ernestus on to mbalax, a Senegalese polyrhythmic dance music developed in the early ‘70s and based on rhythms from the sabar, a family of drums with a thundering beat and history of use for communication with neighboring villages up to 10 miles distant. Ernestus soon travelled to Dakar in search of the elusive music and its creators, but wound up recording with an impromptu ensemble of over 20 mbalax musicians and percussionists, including veterans of the bands of Senegalese legends Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour. Over the course of two years of return trips, the sessions yielded seven records of hypnotic, dub-inflected mbalax, released under the name Jeri-Jeri. Crystallizing into a core unit of 12 musicians for intensified collaboration, Ndagga Rhythm Force—named in reference to legendary Bronx dub session band Wackies Rhythm Force—was formed in 2014, distilling the mbalax sound into a more minimal iteration that has been described as an “expression of a dream Dakar-Berlin nexus.”
Recording with Ndagga Rhythm Force, Ernestus provides crisp, bare-bones drum program editing as propulsive reinforcement for the musicians’ dexterous cascades of syncopated sabar, drum kit, and talking drum percussion workouts that flutter across time. Dense polyrhythms interlock so tightly as to provide ample frequency space for the group’s sequencer-like marimba synth and vivid Wolof singing, intermittently dubbed with gentle ripples of delay by Ernestus. Frenetic, yet rooted in a lurching dubwise sensibility, their heady grooves exist simultaneously on fast and slow planes of movement, a rolling pulse at once ready for club transmission and cross-cultural communication.
In its live formation Ndagga Rhythm Force is comprised of Mbene Diatta Seck (vocals), Mangone Ndiaye Dieng (drum kit), Ibou Mbaye (keyboard), Modou Mbaye (talking drum), Fatou Wore Mboup (dance), and Bada and Serigne Mamoune Seck (sabar), with Ernestus supervising the mix.
Modou Ndiaye
Modou Ndiaye aka Mamadou Ndiaye Cissokho is a virtuoso kora player, vocalist, drummer and percussionist with a superb repertoire of rhythms fusing together traditional and modern beats. He plays a variety of West African instruments ranging from djembe, sabar, calabash and talking drum to his leading instrument –the 22 stringed kora (West African Harp). Modou is a member of the famous Cissokho family of Griot musicians and oral historians from the Cassamance region of Southern Senegal.
POWERED BY THE FIRMLY ROOTED SOUNDSYSTEM
Firmly Rooted is a Soundsystem/Record label pushing the finest roots inspired sounds to the people. Run by a young crew of engineers, producers and selecta's who have been submerged within the bristol sound for ten years. Playing a heavyweight selection of modern day roots, dub and steppas. Firmly rooted perform with a focus on a conscious message, and providing soundsystem music for all.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
Mark Ernestus' NDagga Rhythm Force
+ Modou Ndiaye
Powered by the Firmly Rooted Soundsystem
Friday 23rd August
7pm - 10pm
BRISTOL DEBUT!
£10 / £12 / £15 adv
Mark Ernestus NDagga Rhythm Force:
Mbene Diatta Seck (vocals)
Mangone Ndiaye Dieng (drum kit)
Ibou Mbaye (keyboard)
Modou Mbaye (talking drum)
Fatou Wore Mboup (dance)
Bada and Serigne Mamoune Seck (sabar)
Ernestus supervising the mix
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force is a collaborative project between a revolving assembly of Senegalese sabar musicians and German techno pioneer Mark Ernestus (Basic Channel / Hard Wax), their hybrid sound honed through many iterations of intercontinental exchange. A 2007 encounter with a Gambian DJ team turned Ernestus on to mbalax, a Senegalese polyrhythmic dance music developed in the early ‘70s and based on rhythms from the sabar, a family of drums with a thundering beat and history of use for communication with neighboring villages up to 10 miles distant. Ernestus soon travelled to Dakar in search of the elusive music and its creators, but wound up recording with an impromptu ensemble of over 20 mbalax musicians and percussionists, including veterans of the bands of Senegalese legends Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour. Over the course of two years of return trips, the sessions yielded seven records of hypnotic, dub-inflected mbalax, released under the name Jeri-Jeri. Crystallizing into a core unit of 12 musicians for intensified collaboration, Ndagga Rhythm Force—named in reference to legendary Bronx dub session band Wackies Rhythm Force—was formed in 2014, distilling the mbalax sound into a more minimal iteration that has been described as an “expression of a dream Dakar-Berlin nexus.”
Recording with Ndagga Rhythm Force, Ernestus provides crisp, bare-bones drum program editing as propulsive reinforcement for the musicians’ dexterous cascades of syncopated sabar, drum kit, and talking drum percussion workouts that flutter across time. Dense polyrhythms interlock so tightly as to provide ample frequency space for the group’s sequencer-like marimba synth and vivid Wolof singing, intermittently dubbed with gentle ripples of delay by Ernestus. Frenetic, yet rooted in a lurching dubwise sensibility, their heady grooves exist simultaneously on fast and slow planes of movement, a rolling pulse at once ready for club transmission and cross-cultural communication.
In its live formation Ndagga Rhythm Force is comprised of Mbene Diatta Seck (vocals), Mangone Ndiaye Dieng (drum kit), Ibou Mbaye (keyboard), Modou Mbaye (talking drum), Fatou Wore Mboup (dance), and Bada and Serigne Mamoune Seck (sabar), with Ernestus supervising the mix.
Modou Ndiaye
Modou Ndiaye aka Mamadou Ndiaye Cissokho is a virtuoso kora player, vocalist, drummer and percussionist with a superb repertoire of rhythms fusing together traditional and modern beats. He plays a variety of West African instruments ranging from djembe, sabar, calabash and talking drum to his leading instrument –the 22 stringed kora (West African Harp). Modou is a member of the famous Cissokho family of Griot musicians and oral historians from the Cassamance region of Southern Senegal.
POWERED BY THE FIRMLY ROOTED SOUNDSYSTEM
Firmly Rooted is a Soundsystem/Record label pushing the finest roots inspired sounds to the people. Run by a young crew of engineers, producers and selecta's who have been submerged within the bristol sound for ten years. Playing a heavyweight selection of modern day roots, dub and steppas. Firmly rooted perform with a focus on a conscious message, and providing soundsystem music for all.
Entry requirements: no age restrictions (under 18s to be accompanied by an adult over 21yrs, 1:1 ratio)
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