Ibeyi – Ibeyi

The album is a subtle melange of diverse influences: not just Lisa-Kainde’s soul and jazz leanings and Naomi’s up-to-the-minute beat making but the bloodlines of France, Cuba, and Africa, including the use of Yoruban chants they first heard in the Santeria ceremonies. The tense, dramatic Oya, the lead track on their debut EP, addresses the deity (or “Orisha”) of change and destruction while River honours Oshun, the Orisha of love, rivers, and fertility. Yoruban culture traveled from Nigeria and Benin to Cuba and Brazil with the slave ships centuries ago but is little-known in Europe.