For every human experience there is a rhythm, and every rhythm has a name. When the rhythms move from the background to the spotlight, there is a Revolution Sabar.

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.

From the hypnotic opener “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.”

It is said that sabar drums were used by the village griots to communicate between towns several miles away. Sabar is still a way to mark important events and to gather people together. “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.