Mark Ernestus' Ndagga Rhythm Force | Vivid LIVE

For a pioneering Berlin figure who helped define the sound of techno in the late ’80s and ’90s, it made sense that Mark Ernestus would eventually travel to Africa and immerse himself in the polyrhythmic music from which dub, house and techno descended. The result was a stunning collaboration between the German DJ and the Senegalese percussion troupe Ndagga Rhythm Force, in which Ernestus’ masterful production fused with the Dakar musicians’ tribal rhythms and exuberant vocals. 

As the founder of mythical Berlin record store Hard Wax, Ernestus was a pivotal figure in the city’s post-unification electro scene; as one half of the seminal duo Basic Channel, and later, Rhythm & Sound (alongside Moritz von Oswald), his deep mixture of dub and techno had an influence on the genre that is impossible to overstate. Ernestus’ passion for minimalism and polyrhythms took him to Dakar in 2011, and his collaboration with Senegalese studio musicians led to their debut album Yermande (2016), an organic meeting of techno and mbalax drumming born of a collective creative energy. In 2025, Ernestus convened with vocalist Mbene Diatta Seck, and Sabar percussionists Bada Seck and Serigne Mamoune Seck, for Khadim, a more spacious, psychedelic album that forms the centrepiece of their explosive live show.

This is the group’s debut live performance in Australia.