They claim their love for each other, affirm their stage name, “Ibeyi”, “twin” in Yoruba, the language that unites Africa and Cuba through the ordeal of slaves. Naomi and Lisa-Kaindé Diaz are sisters, and they are proud of it.
The two young women are also Diaz, daughters of Maya, present on the disc, and percussionist Anga Diaz, who died 16 years ago. So on this third album, with even more strength in their voices, they sing their memories, their deaths, their hopes. And in recent years, says Naomi, the hope was above all to get back on the road: “For three years, seeing only likes on social media is heavy…“
With their unique sense of rhythm and the couture of styles, languages and undulating voices, the two twins remain a case apart, of a rare emotion. Lisa-Kainde: “The world has changed, and we said to ourselves that if we were never to travel again, well, we had.“
What we have lived these last ten years, we said to ourselves that it was beautiful
Lisa-Kaindé Diaz, Ibeyi, at franceinfo
For ten years, they do not have the feeling of having deviated. As on the previous album, they take up the subject of racism, police violence in particular. “It’s really a different chapter of the same book, they explain in unison. Spell 31, it’s Ibeyi now“. Stronger than ever, certainly, Ibeyi; finally ready to take off again.
The new album of the Ibeyi sisters | Yann Bertrand’s chronicle
listen
Ibeyi, Spell 31 (XL Recordings). Album available. On tour in the fall, November 6 in Strasbourg, 15 in Lille, 25 in Toulouse, 26 in Nîmes or even February 3 in Paris, the Olympia.