FAMILY

At first glance, master sabar percussionist Aba Diop may seem like a “new arrival” on the global music stage—an unknown name out of Senegal suddenly appearing alongside luminaries like John Medeski and Yussef Dayes. But to call Aba new is to overlook an extraordinary lifetime of tradition, mastery, and devotion to the sabar drum. Born into an unbroken lineage of griots in Dakar, Senegal, Aba carries centuries of sacred musical knowledge in his hands. 

Now joined by a powerhouse ensemble of fellow griot artists and global collaborators, Aba Diop & the Yermande Family’s full-length release Family doesn’t just introduce their sound, it affirms sabar as a rhythmic language that has shaped music across continents and centuries, and continues to shape what comes next. The group takes its name from the Wolof word “Yermande,” which means compassion, care for others, and deep respect for community. It pervades the music and performances in a tangible way; this music is medicine for our times.

Aba Diop is based in the U.S. today, but his soul lives in the ancestral rhythms of West Africa. He comes from generations of griots: poet-musicians entrusted with preserving culture, ethics, and spirit through rhythm and story. “My mother was griot. My father was griot. All of my grandparents were griots,” he says. “They gave us a good education, a good attitude, and they showed us how to carry ourselves with kindness and respect. I put all of that into the rhythms.”

The ten tracks on Family are deeply rooted in that griot ethic, but they’re also alive with something new. Aba’s hand-carved sabar drums pulse at the core, but woven around them are hypnotic kora melodies from Noumoucounda Cissoko, the expressive fire of tama virtuoso Samba Ndokh, and the open-hearted groove of American guitarist Jason Hosier. Thierno Sarr, a commanding bassist, grounds the ensemble with deep, resonant rhythm. Special guest keyboardist John Medeski brings the sound into an entirely different orbit, combining percussive attack with unexpected harmonies and cosmic textures that deepen the groove into something otherworldly. The sonic clarity and power of the album owe much to Lamp, Senegal’s most in-demand engineer and producer, whose signature touch has shaped many of the country’s biggest hits. Senegalese vocalist Zeyna Ngom Diop, a true griot diva whose rich, expressive voice carries the soul of griot tradition, and even Aba’s three-year-old son Ahmed Diop contribute, making this a truly intergenerational, international effort.

As the album’s title Family suggests, Aba Diop & the Yermande Family is more than a band, it’s a collective bound by music, respect, and shared purpose. “We are all human,” Aba says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in Japan, America, or Senegal, the music unites us. And when we’re united, we become like a family, playing together, feeling together. That spirit, of caring for your elders, of supporting one another with kindness, that’s what we call Yermande.”

The album was recorded in 2025 in Dakar and upstate New York. Many of its most electrifying moments came in spontaneous bursts: “As griots, we create quickly,” Aba explains. “When we record, we already have the idea, but the real magic happens in the moment. It’s the djinn, the spirits in the instruments, that come and guide us.”

Sabar rhythms, traditionally used for healing, prayer, and celebration, have rarely taken center stage in this way on a globally distributed album. Most often, they’re in the background of mbalax pop or folkloric accompaniment. But Aba Diop & the Yermande Family flips the hierarchy, placing sabar at the forefront as a lead voice in contemporary global music, alongside jazz improvisers and griot singers alike.

The album opens with its first single, “Aba Ñew Na!” (“Aba Is Here!”), an ebullient, high-energy celebration of Aba’s arrival. The lyrics call in each member of the group by name and invite the listener to join the party. One of the album’s standout tracks, “Adouna Amoul Solo” (“Life Has No Problems”), is a riff-based sabar piece that blends tradition and groove into a track accessible to first-time listeners and percussion devotees alike. Other songs, like “Yarou” (Respect), feature the bright, innocent voice of young Ahmed, Aba’s three year old son, calling out values like being considerate and kind, musical seeds planted for the next generation. On “Family Boo Dem Am Na Nit Ku Bakh” (“Every Family Has a Good Person”), Aba builds a sweeping, slow-burning crescendo, with each musician adding solos that speak like prayers. You can feel the breath of the ensemble, how they build, release, and return to the groove with unspoken precision.

From a cultural standpoint, the album makes a bold statement: percussion is not support, it’s source. And this source has something urgent to say.

“Our percussion heals,” Aba says. “There are rhythms we use in ceremony. There are rhythms that create a feeling of peace, that bring joy, that lead people to the light. When you hear our sabar, you forget your problems. That’s the power we carry.”

Aba Diop & the Yermande Family bridges continents, cultures, and generations, uniting Senegal’s master musicians with boundary-pushing artists in the United States. While the musicians come from different backgrounds, their emulsion is unified by a shared language of improvisation, deep listening, and high-level musicianship. 

At the heart of Aba Diop & the Yermande Family is the dynamic interplay of sabar and tama, an intricate rhythmic language that drives the music forward. Woven around it is the lyrical conversation between guitar and kora, each responding to the other with fluid, improvisational grace. Anchoring it all is the deep, resonant bass, grounding the ensemble with warmth and power. The keys float above, adding a transcendent layer that lifts the sound into new dimensions, while the vocals, at once raw and refined, carry messages of spirit, joy, and ancestral memory.

Every element is rooted in tradition while reaching toward something boldly original. Senegalese studio legend Lamp captures it all with clarity and punch, preserving the group’s raw, unfiltered energy. Grammy-winning engineer Danny Blume helped record on the American side, with Lamp’s final mix and mastering that give the album its distinct sonic character, rooted, resonant, and alive with the spirit of sabar. The album was co-produced by Aba Diop and Bec Stupak Diop under their independent label Dal Diam Fall, a choice that helps keep artistic control in the hands of the African creators at the heart of the project.

“Musically and spiritually Aba Diop & the Yermande Family is as powerful and important as anything I have heard or been a part of. There is nothing like it. The freedom and spontaneity with which they approach recording is how I believe it should be and what I love. Always connected to the source of where music comes from and why we do it in the first place.”
—John Medekski

As Aba gains attention in the U.S., his work is beginning to shift public understanding of African percussion and its place in modern music. With performances, videos, and studio releases, he’s building a bridge: one that invites new audiences into the world of griot artistry, where rhythm is medicine, tradition is alive, and creative expression moves without borders.

In a world full of digital confusion, the rooted medicine in Aba’s music serves as a deeply analogue balm for the modern soul. In Family, that medicine flows freely. It’s an album made from love, made from sweat, made from spirit, and it speaks to anyone with yermande: a good heart that’s ready to listen.

Release Date: August 29, 2025