Interview. Ibeyi in concert at 106 in Rouen: “We put ourselves in danger”
Through Thierry Chion
Published on
“Spell 31” is the third album byIbeyito discover at 106, in Rouen, on February 2, 2023. In the space of ten songs, the two sisters let us hear a real melting pot of culture.
Before their arrival, they answered questions from 76news.
A third album to “do us good”
News: Finally, your new album Spell 31 is a kind of hymn to the love that you declare to each other…
Ibeyi: We did this during the second quarantine. It’s our third album, we needed it to do us good, to heal ourselves from the last years. We are in danger. We started from nothing and arrived at this album of which we are proud.
When I say we started from scratch, I mean we worked differently. We did not return to our codes, our techniques that we already knew.
This album actually includes love songs that are intended for you?
: We never thought of doing that, we thought a lot before doing that. We have already written many love songs for our fathers, our mothers, our friends and this time we wanted to celebrate our love. It’s very touching to see two sisters come together and sing songs for them.
We always indulge a lot. The more the years pass, the more we describe, the more we share who we are.
And with “Sister 2 sister”, you affirm your twinness even more…
: When we started Ibeyi, no one called us twins. Everyone since then refers to us as such. Our differences are essential to this group.
A music nourished by several influences
You sing in English, Spanish, Yoruba and little French, why this choice?
: It’s not a deliberate choice, it’s the songs that impose the choice of languages on us. I started writing at 14, I was writing in English. I was discovering the great jazz singers, I think I was marked by that. Nevertheless, it’s something we want to do, we’re working on it, but we haven’t reached the level we want in terms of sounds yet.
Your music is rich in influences, how would you define it?
: In fact, the more you describe it, the more difficult it seems. Our music mixes electro, tradi, trip-hop, soul… It sounds complicated like that, but in fact it isn’t.
In concert on February 2, at 106, allée François Mitterrand, in Rouen, at 8 p.m. Prices: from 21.50 to 31 euros.
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