The first time I met Cuban-French duo Ibeyi (aka Lisa-Kanidé and Naomi Diaz) was at Other Voices festival, it was the eve of their 20th birthday. Two things happened that night: they played a heart wrenching gig and I accidentally spat cake all over Naomi’s face. Note to self: don’t eat cake and laugh simultaneously, or at least not in the company of soon-to-be music royalty. Thankfully she forgave me and agreed to this interview, this time round I kept my elbows on the table and chewed with my mouth shut as we chatted about their experiences in Dingle, the making of their debut LP and the influences which fuelled it.
What did you think of Other Voices festival and how did you find your time in Dingle?
Both: The best!
Lisa: Other Voices was one of the best concerts and festivals ever. There is really something special about Dingle, you can feel it. You can feel the vitality there, its amazing. We were so happy to play in the old church and we had no clue that they were going to bring us a cake! We turned twenty doing the concert so it was really special, we will remember it.
I spoke to your mother a little bit that night and she described you as yin and yang. How does this relationship between you shape your music?
L: Our music is a mix of two different people and thats why its interesting. I always say if I was doing a record by myself it would be awful, because it would be just sad songs. It would be awful and she would do like, gangster rap or something.
You say a prayer and light two candles at the beginning of every gig in memory of your father and sister. Is spirituality an important part of your music?
L: I mean, it’s weird to say you are spiritual.
Naomi: I think we are!
L: Yes, I guess its a part of us, but I mean when you go to Cuba, its a very spiritual place and you can feel the energy from the people. We also lost our father when we were eleven so we had to live our lives differently.
N: We needed to have a reason to continue to live. So in that way, we are more mature.
L: Yes, I think it’s a way to see life and a way to enjoy life and to presently live every single moment and a way to connect with yourself. And Yoruban culture is also very spiritual.
Yes, I actually wanted to ask you about that. You sing in Yoruban in some of your songs, have you always sang in Yoruban or was that something you consciously decided to bring into the songs?
Both: Yes, always!
L: We started singing Yoruba when our mother took us to see the Yoruba choir. We grew up listening to these chants and when I started composing it just came naturally. I’m always saying that I started at 14 because then people can really understand, but we started composing way before we did an album and we never thought we were going to do one.
N: No, not at all.
L: We started composing for ourselves and just to feel better.
There’s a documentary on Youtube about your percussionist father Anga Diaz and the album ‘Echu Mingua’. He seemed to be an eclectic and passionate musician. Naomi you share an instrument and you also bear a particular resemblance to him, how did he influence you?
N: We started learning classics at the age of seven. But at that age we weren’t playing music all the time, we just wanted to go to the beach and eat pizza, just to do normal stuff. But I think he influenced us in the sense that we knew it was possible to be a musician and to be happy with this job. Also, we are mixing a lot of influences in our music and he did the same. We always did though, we never thought about it like that until after we recorded the album.
L: And of course, I think she has rhythm in her blood. Its her heritage. She started playing the day after our father died so I definitely think that there is a link.
Your mother also told me you say she is like a musician with no instrument. What role has she played in your development musically?
L: She helps a lot! Sometimes I am working on the lyrics with her…
N: Its not fair! [laughs]
L: Because of course she is so good and she has such a good ear. I’ll be composing something and she’s like “Hmmm do you think maybe you should change this little bit” and I change it and she says “Ohhh much better” and she’s so right. So she definitely has an amazing ear.
Your mother also appeared in the music video for Mama Says. Do you have an input when it comes to the music videos?
N: We did the last three videos with Ed Morris. He’s amazing. For example, for River we want this to be under water…
L: …and we said we don’t want people to just say ‘Oh how beautiful!’, we want it to be twisted, and we want the image to be twisted and he came up with this amazing idea. I said to him I’m quite obsessed with videos. I think videos must have one idea, just one idea. I don’t really like stories. You never understand them. So, he has this amazing ability to feel what you want, really feel it and so he came up with these amazing ideas.
Did you guys have any previous experience in a recording studio prior to recording the album?
L: Well, we did an EP actually but it never came out. The day we met XL, the producer with whom we recorded that first EP said to us ‘Don’t put it out’ and we said why and he said ‘Because you’ve changed so much’. He thought that now that we could play our own music, which wasn’t the case a few months before, so he thought we shouldn’t put it out and he was so right. We met XL the next day and we started recording.
When you started recording the album with Richard Russell, how did the songs evolve?
L: We discovered another world of electronic sound and of course Richard guided us so well. We learned so much about ourselves and how to produce an album and how to work together. But actually, sometimes I do feel that the songs made themselves.
The album is extremely personal, how is it singing those songs every night to an audience of strangers?
N: I think people can relate so I think they think about their stories and not ours. So I think thats why it’s easy for us to sing those songs.
L: At the same time its amazing because it’s like therapy. It’s like living your pains again and again, but winning at the end of the song. It’s a really good thing to do, its like therapy.
And Naomi, do you ever write lyrics?
N: No
L: But she will!
Lisa, would you ever write lyrics from Naomi’s state of mind or is it always from a personal point of view?
L: No, I mean quite often I am writing for myself. But at the same time it can change, I like to challenge myself and discover new parts of myself so for sure if she asks me to – ‘Will you compose a song for me about this story?’, I will do it.
That would be pretty cool if you did do that!
N: Ah, so now that I know that I will ask her to do it.
A new form of therapy?
Both: Yeah let’s do it! [hi-fives] (each other….not me)
Ibeyi’s self-titled debut is out on XL Records on Friday 13th February
Words: Róisín McVeigh
