Senegal: Afropop Living Room Session 1 - Aba Diop & Yermande Family

8 October 2025
Afropop Worldwide (New York)

We are proud to introduce the first edition of the Afropop Worldwide Living Room Sessions. This edition features Aba Diop and the Yermande Family, a band that blends Senegalese traditions--Wolof, Mande and more--in a thrilling ensemble presentation. The band was formed in Dakar, Senegal, but now has a second home in the U.S.. This session was recorded amid the band's tour to promote their 2025 album, Family.

Aba Diop is a master of the sabar drum, the beating heart of Senegal's most popular dance music: mbalax. The percussive center of the Yermande Family is Diop's fiery duo volleys with tama player Samba Ndokh, a veteran of Cheikh Lo's band. Noumoukunda Cissoko on kora brings the Mande music element to the band, while griot vocalist Zeyna Ngom Diop delivers commanding lead vocals, often joined by Aba Diop and Samba Ndokh. Guitarist Jason Hosier, the one American in the band, has spent significant time learning guitar styles in Senegal, and it shows.

This is a band that can command every inch of a concert stage, with kinetic moves, dramatic dancing and irresistible ambiance. Here we find them in the at-home setting, seated, at ease and relaxed, but no less electrifying.

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Aba Diop & the Yermande Family

Aba Diop: percussion

Noumoucounda: kora

Jason Hosier: guitar

Zeyna Ngom Diop: vocals

Samba Ndokh: tama

Executive producers: Sean Barlow, Sam Connor, Bec Stupak Diop

Produced and recorded by: Banning Eyre

Line Producer: Lynn Jones

Sound by: David Raymond

Photos by: Jessica Glass

Read the original article on Afropop.

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