Ibeyi – “Deathless”

October 10, 2017

In an interview, Lisa-Kaindé Díaz—who makes up Ibeyi with her twin Naomi Díaz—said the narrative from “Deathless” was inspired by when she was stopped by a racist police officer, asking if she smoked or drank or used drugs before throwing her bag on the floor. “I think I was reading War and Peace, and I had Chopin,” she told NPR. “And I think he thought, ‘Oh, she might be intelligent and have something in her head.’ So he just gave me my empty bag and left. To be ‘Deathless’ means that there’s no end.” And in this track featuring Kamasi Washington, she captures menacing feeling of that story, while turning the phrase “deathless” into an empowering chant.