(singers vocalizing)
- [Lisa] We are mixed race.
♪ Oh, hey ♪
- [Lisa] We are black and white.
♪ We are deathless ♪
♪ Hey ♪
- [Lisa] We are French and Cuban,
and we have this African culture.
- When your mom is on tour with you, that's what you do.
(Naomi chuckles)
- [Lisa] We really feel like all of that is what makes us.
(speaking in foreign language)
♪ Carried this ♪
♪ For years ♪
("I Carried This For Years" by Ibeyi)
♪ I carried ♪
♪ I've carried ♪
(audience cheers)
- My name is Naomi Diaz.
- I am Lisa-Kiandé; and we are ...
- [Unison] Ibeyi.
♪ Away, Away ♪
- [Lisa] Ibeyi means twins in Yoruba, and we're twins.
♪ Away, Away ♪
- [Lisa] I do the piano parts and the melody, the lyrics.
- [Naomi] I do all the production and rhythm.
- Basically, I do the skeleton,
and she gives it the flesh and the skin.
♪ Away, Away ♪
(audience cheers)
(motorcycle engines revving)
- We grew up listening to French artists
and old soul singers, Yoruba chants.
(singing in foreign language)
- [Lisa] My mother took us to Yoruba Kwara
for the first time; we were 15.
And we fell in love with those songs.
And we are on stage every night singing those songs.
- [Naomi] We're honored to be part of this culture.
- It's almost like we are sponges, so we take everything in;
and it mixes up inside our bellies,
and then it comes back and it sounds like.
- [Unison] Ibeyi.
(Naomi laughs) - It's really weird,
(Naomi laughs) but it really is like that.
♪ Should we just let it be ♪
- This is our song "Deathless" from our second album, Ash.
Normally, I come to the studio with the piano and the melody
and the lyrics.
But this time, it started with the beat and with the bass.
(baseline plays) It's heavy and dark.
Now, me and Richard Russell, our producer,
both created this up tempo beat.
(drum beats and baseline playing)
"Deathless" is a really important song in our album.
We wanted people to understand the power they have.
(singing in foreign language)
When I was 16, I got stopped on the subway by policeman.
And there were like, "Do you smoke?"
And I said, "No."
And they were like, "Do you use drugs?"
And I said, "No."
"Do you drink?"
And I said, "No."
And then they were like, "Are you effing kidding me?"
and really, really close to my face.
I didn't understand.
Obviously, he was a racist.
And then, he made me take out my socks and my shoes.
He took my bag and threw everything on the floor like that.
But, when he saw that I had a huge book I was reading,
Anna Karenina, he froze, gave me my empty bag back,
and left.
And then, I forgot about it.
But when our producer, Richard Russell asked us,
"Do you wanna write a song about it?"
I said, "I can't, my story is like, nothing."
And Naomi said something incredible.
- [Naomi] I said that it's wrong, and it wasn't real enough,
and that she should talk about it.
- So after having this beat in my ears,
I started writing the lyrics on exactly what
this policeman said to me.
♪ Do you smoke ♪
♪ What's your name ♪
♪ Do you know why I'm here ♪
We realize that, actually,
what we wanted to do was an anthem
for everybody to feel deathless,
to feel immortal for three minutes,
for everybody to feel like one, to feel their own power.
And we created that hook.
♪ Whatever happens, whatever happened ♪
♪ Why ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪
- So, usually, what we do is we loop our own voices
over and over and over again.
Because it's an anthem, we need other voices,
so we called this amazing choir, and we all sang.
♪ Whatever happens, whatever happened ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪
- Even the sound guy.
♪ We are deathless ♪
- Even Richard Russell, our producer.
Our mother was there.
We all sang "We Are Deathless!" Together,
and it was an incredible experience.
So, once we had the beat,
and actually the melody and the lyrics,
we went back to the studio and you added your drums.
(chuckles) Love your face.
(snickers) You look so depressed in that photo.
- That's our dad.
- You were like, oh, I'm done.
(drum beats playing)
We grew up with our father being
one of the stars of the Latin jazz world,
a master of the percussion.
(speaking in foreign language)
(woman laughs)
(Naomi laughs)
(speaking in foreign language)
(drum beats playing)
(drum beats playing) (Miguel chanting)
- When our father died, we were 11.
That same year, we were like,
OK, let's try to make a band.
(drum beats playing)
- [Lisa] When she played the cajón for the first time,
there's something that happened, and we all felt it.
It was like, this is it.
It was not just the rhythm; it was lived.
Our father's genes were in her.
It was almost like you had played for years already.
- I play the cajón or the beta cajón.
It's what we use for Yoruba traditional ceremony in Cuba.
Normally, it is made out of skin.
My master, Miguel Ballumbrosio, he does it with wood.
So, he made this for me.
We really like to mix electronic sounds and some wood.
And so, I just find that rhythm.
(drum beats playing)
- It could be one day, a hip-hop beat
that she actually deconstructs,
or it could be a pop beat,
but it could also can be a traditional pattern
from the Yoruba culture.
(drum beats playing) We found a base sound
when we combined voices, traditional drums, and wood,
and electronics.
And this is when it all clicks.
♪ Left for dead in the streets ♪
♪ Whatever happens, whatever happened ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪
- There's some songs that are really hard to do,
and there's some songs that
you don't know why it's almost magical.
Everything fits, and that's what that song is.
♪ Oh ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪
- Our whole love for music ♪ We are deathless ♪
is mixing.
We are proud to mix everything,
and for it to still feel that it comes from your heart.
♪ Oh ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪ - Music has the power that
has no boundaries.
♪ Whatever happens, whatever happened ♪
♪ Oh ♪
♪ We are deathless ♪
(music note plays)