"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. Not that Khadim represents any kind of break. Its transformativeness is rooted in the hundreds upon hundreds of hours the Rhythm Force has played together. Nearly a decade has passed since Yermande the unit's previous album. Every year throughout that period — barring lockdowns — the group has toured extensively in Europe the US and Japan. With improvisation at the core of its music-making each performance has been evolutionary as it turns out heading towards Khadim. “I didn’t want to simply continue with the same formula"" says Ernestus. “I preferred to wait for a new approach. Playing live so many times I wanted to capture some of the energy and freedom of those performances.” Though several members of the touring ensemble sit out this recording — sabar drummers kit-drummer synth-player — their presence abides in the structure and swing of the music here. Lamp Fall is a homage to Cheikh Ibra Fall founder of the Baye Fall spiritual community. The mosque in the city of Touba is known as Lamp Fall because the main tower resembles a lantern. Soy duggu Touba moom guey séen / When you enter Touba he is the one who greets you. After a swift incantatory start Mbene sings with reflective seriousness. Her voice swirls with reverb over a tight funky propulsive interplay between synth and drums threaded with one-two jabs of bass. Cheikh Ibra Fall mi may way mo diayndiou ré la mu jëndé ko taalibe... Cheikh Ibra Fall amo morome aboridial / Cheikh Ibra Fall shows the way forward he gives us strength he gathers his disciples... Overflowing with grace Cheikh Ibra Fall has no equal. Interwoven with Wolof proverbs Dieuw Bakhul is a recriminatory song about treachery lies and back-biting. Over moody roiling synths and ominous lean bass Mbene throws out fluttering scraps of vocal as if re-running old conversations in her head. The music shadows her despair to the verge of breakdown at one moment seemingly so lost in thought and memories that it threatens to disintegrate. Bayilene di wor seen xarit ak seen an da ndo... Dieuw bakhul dieuw ñaw na / Stop judging your friends and companions... A lie is no good a lie is ugly. Khadim is a show-stopper; currently the centrepiece of Ndagga Rhythm Force live performances. The song is dedicated to Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba aka Khadim founder of the Mouride Sufi order. Serigne Bamba mi may wayeu / Serigne Bamba is the one who makes me sing. The verses name-check revered members of his family and brotherhood like Sokhna Diarra Mame Thierno and Serigne Bara. Though Islam has been practised in Senegal for a millennium it wasn’t until the start of the twentieth century that it began to thoroughly permeate ordinary Senegalese society hand-in-hand with anti-colonialism. The verses here recall Bamba’s banishment by the French to Gabon and later to Mauritania in those foundational times. During exile his captors once introduced a lion to his cell: gaïnde gua waf dieba lu ci Cheikhoul Khadim / the lion doesn’t budge it gives itself over to Cheikh Khadim. Deep surging bass steady kick-drum and simple reverbed chords on the off-beat lend the feel and impetus of steppers reggae. A reed plays snatches of a traditional Baye Fall melody; the dazzling polyrhythmic drumming is by Serigne Mamoune Seck. Mbene compellingly blends percussive vocalese narrative suspense exultant praise introspection and grievance. Nimzat is a devotional tribute to Cheikh Sadbou a contemporary of Bamba buried in a mausoleum in Nizmat in southern Mauritania. Way nala kagne nala... souma danana fata dale / I call upon you and wonder about you... If I am overwhelmed come to my aid. The town holds special significance for Khadr Sufism. An annual pilgrimage there is conducted to this day. The rhythm is buoyantly funky; the mood is sombre reined-in foreboding. Punctuated by peals of thunder Mbene sings with restrained intense reverence; huskily confidential steadfast. Nanu dem ba Nimzat dé ba sali khina / Let us go to Nimzat to seal our devotion."