Ì FÉ: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

April 27, 2018, Felix Contreras When I first heard ÌFÉ I was stopped in my tracks. Literally. I pulled the car over and just listened. I recognized AfroCuban drumming and chanting, but it was coming at me with electronic furnishings that made their drums and vocals sound like a futuristic spiritual ceremony. ÌFÉ is from Puerto Rico and feature a surprising back story. The group s debut album, IIII+IIII, is a fresh electronic take on tradition that s winning over even the most devout practitioners of the western Africanbased spiritual ceremonies that form the base of their music. That s hard to do with ritual music. For their turn behind the Tiny Desk, Otura Mun and his ensemble unplug their drums for their first tune, an acoustic version of their House of Love (Ogbe Yekun). The sound of the second song here is what startled me when I heard the band s debut CD last year: the parts normally performed on AfroCuban bata drums and chekeres are electronically treated for a traditional prayer for the de