Ibeyi, comprising of sisters Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz, have released visuals for their new track ‘Made of Gold’, recruiting Gambian-British star Pa Salieu. The French-Cuban duo have announced alongside ‘Made of Gold’ that they are working on an album set for a 2022 release. The video can be watched below:
After the success of their 2017 album Ash, Ibeyi have taken to the studio again, with “Made of Gold” being the first emergence from their recordings. Ash went on to recieve widespread acclaim, making Pitchfork’s best albums of 2017 list. They then teetered on the edge of mainstream by both featuring in Beyoncé’s film Lemonade, and have since released their track “Recurring Dream”, coming out earlier this year in March.
The artful video boasts directing credits from notorious photographer Daniel Sannwald, who has produced major advertising campaigns for brands including Nike and Adidas. A soulful piece, the video features a crowned and golden-clad Pa Salieu singing to the limits of his voice, departing from his usual style to deliver something rather special. Salieu hit the mainstream last year with his album Send Them to Coventry, and has since moved from strength to strength, most recently featuring on long-time collaborator Backroad Gee’s most recent album.
The music video is highly symbolic: Lisa-Kaindé here represents the queen of water, and Naomi Diaz embodies the queen of thunder. These are references to two dieties in Yoruba religion, Yemanjá and Ṣàngó. Indeed, the group name Ibeyi itself means ‘twins’ in Yoruba, a thread reinforced by the videos twinned deities.
The video they said was inspired by Frida Kahlo’s dualist painting The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Senor Xolotl, and closes with Lisa-Kaindé reading from The Ancient Egyptian Book Of The Dead. This highly soulful piece proudly speaks to their ancestral roots, and is steeped in symbolic visuals and lyrics, with Salieu singing “we are the reincarnation”.
In a description of the track, the sisters that comprise the duo were discussing the spiritual themes of the lyrics:
“The first song we produced in the studio was “Made of Gold.” Whilst we were creating the layers of the backing vocals, we could feel that we were making contact with our ancestors; that what we were recording was calling on the brujas and our ancestors for their ancient knowledge.
““Made of Gold” is about connecting to our ancestors’ knowledge, to the truths of the past and the power of the ancient. The line is not broken, nor is it lost. Protected by these spells, our third album will see us conveying our reconnection to that power and channeling that magic into our new music.”
