Ibeyi's 'Offering' is far more than musical it's a spiritual rite

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Set us as preferred One balmy October day in Havana, as the Cuban French sister act Ibeyi plotted the video for “Offerings” — an electro-spiritual ballad from the new album “Offering,” released in June — Lisa-Kaindé Díaz unceremoniously asked her twin Naomi Díaz, to ceremoniously shave her head on camera.Naomi was accustomed to Lisa-Kaindé’s whims long before they became professional artists.But to take a blade to her sister’s voluminous curls would be a bridge too far.“I was like, ‘Hell no.

I’m not doing that!’” Naomi recalled to The Times, over a Zoom call from Paris.“As always, when I come with my woo-woo stuff, Naomi is eye rolling like, ‘Girl, what is this s—?’” said Lisa-Kaindé.

“But this time around, Naomi was like, ‘OK.’”The music video ended with Lisa-Kaindé releasing her locks into the sea.At the core of Ibeyi, which translates to “twins” in the Yoruba language, is the polarity between sisters.Lisa-Kaindé is the bleeding heart who whispers divinity into her lyrics, and Naomi grounds them with the beating pulse of her percussion.

They sing in unison, both in tension and harmony.This is the synergy that illuminates their atmospheric approach to the Afro-Cuban jazz tradition.Born into a musical family in Paris — their mother the French Venezuelan singer Maya Dagnino, their father the Grammy-winning Cuban percussionist Anga Díaz (of Irakere and Buena Vista Social Club) — the 31-year-old sisters jump-started their music careers at 18 when they were discovered by British producer Richard Russell, who also helms the indie powerhouse XL Recordings.

After releasing a self-titled debut in 2015, the Díaz sisters appeared in the utopian short film for Beyoncé’s “Lemonade,” then released two more albums under XL: 2017’s “Ash” and 2022’s “Spell31,�...