Ibeyi - Ash
In the west-african culture Yoruba “Ibeyi” is the expression for the divine spirit shared between twins. In this case you are looking at the twins, Lisa and Naomi Diaz, who have shared their entire life with each other and experienced similar events.
You can sense the togetherness of the twins, however, they both have their own character. They see themselves as complete opposite: Lisa describes her sister Naomi as being more impulsive, sensitive and proactive like a fighter, whereas Lisa is more calm and reflective, however tends to overthink. Those two different characters go very well together, when you look at their continuous success since 2015. Transferring this into their musical approach, both women have their own domain: “I [Lisa] do the skeleton and she [Naomi] gives it the flesh and the skin”- meaning Lisa is in charge of the melody, piano parts and the lyrics, Naomis' domain lies within the production and rhythm.
At the age of 11, soon after the death of their father, Miguel “Angá” Diaz, who was one of the most famous Latin jazz artist playing the conguero in the Buena Vista Social Club, the twins started to pick up his musical heritage. Lisa wrote lyrics and Naomi took over their dads favourite instrument, the Cajòn. They got taught about traditional songs of the west-african culture Yoruba, which their mothers' family side inherited. Yoruba-Folk was soon to be one of the main musical essences, that they blended with downtempo electro-soul, hip-hop and contemporary jazz - the mixture which Ibeyi is well known for.
“We grew up in a family that is half white, half black, and we think that's perfectly fine. Even as children, we had access to very different cultures: Yoruba, French, European. That shaped us, and we wanted to pass on this tolerant view of the world with our album."
While their first album was focusing on personal grief, overcoming the death of their father and sister, Ash is themed upon political world affairs. It is 2017, when the Diaz twins publish their 2nd LP - the time when the political situation seems to overheat itself. “We feel like the world is on fire and we are all like ash - hence the album title.” The corresponding theme song “Ash” was the first track they came up with and from that first idea, it opened up the doors for all the other songs.
The albums's theme opens up with the intro “I carried this for years”, where Lisa and Noami show their sorrow and ongoing burden they have carried around with them, though with the album they will be able to process their sorrow. “Away away” picks up the motive behind “Ash” (as discussed above): a girl looks out her window at a world collapsing, with the future ahead to be exposed to the “fate of flames”, but then finds strength as she begins to sing, which proves to be the sisters' way to cope with all the problems facing.
The strongest, most insistingly political message comes across in “No man is big enough for my arms”. You hear the lines of a speech by Michelle Obama delivered in 2016, shortly after an audio recording was leaked. It contained the presidential candidate Donald Trump, in which he defined his personal patronising image of women to his colleague Billy Bush. She holds against his disrespectfulness with her most urgent catchphrase of her speech: "The measure of any society is how it treats it's women and girls". This sequence repeats itself over and over again like a important warning.
Ibeyi joins in Michelle Obama's shock, loudly chanting: “No man / No man is big enough for my arms”. It sounds like a liberation strike against men oppressing women. As irritating the matter referred to is, the stronger and empowering their appeal comes forth: “The piece is meant to encourage women to stand up for themselves, to be ambitious, to be self-sufficient. It is a song written by women for women."
A second, yet equally important message, displays the track “Deathless”. It tells the story of Lisa, who had been held up by a policemen when she was 16. She was accused of doing something illegal and examined allegedly only because of the colour of her skin. When processing Lisas story into a song it appeared to come across as a hymn addressing everyone. It creates a sense of hopefulness and feeling strong. For the recording of “Deathless” the twins gathered friends and family to form a big choir to chant the words “We are deathless” as insistingly as possible.
Despite their sorrow and frustration that the world is far away from meeting the sisters' idealism, Lisas and Naomis encouraging, soothing singing convinces us to stay positive and solidary to each other. They themselves are supportive and solidary to their listeners and each other. Through their music they seemed to have found a way in which they can display their sisterly bond, overcoming their grief and anger through spiritual and empowering singing.
Listen to Ash on Spotify:
