Biography
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Born
3 October 1985 (age 38)
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Born In
New York, New York, United States
Leyla McCalla (born Leyla Sarah McCalla in New York City on 3 October 1985) is an Haitian-American classical and folk musician. She was a cellist with the Grammy-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, leaving to focus on her solo career.
McCalla sings in French, Haitian Creole and English, and plays cello, tenor banjo and guitar. Her music is influenced by traditional Creole, Cajun and Haitian music, as well as by American jazz and folk.
Raised in suburban New Jersey (with a couple of teenage years spent in Accra, Ghana), McCalla renewed her connection with her Haitian heritage after moving to the Crescent City in 2010. The relocation led to her appearance on the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ GRAMMY-nominated 2012 album Leaving Eden, as well as extensive concert dates as a touring member of the group.
Her debut solo album Vari-Colored Songs was named 2013’s Album of the Year by the London Sunday Times and Songlines magazine. The track “Heart of Gold” was featured on NPR, which noted that the song’s instrumentation “sounds like lonesome nighttime.”
Her second album, A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey, was released in 2016 by Jazz Village/Harmonia Mundi. Named after the Haitian proverb that also provided the title of Gage Averill’s 1997 book about popular music, power and politics in Haiti, and featuring songs sung in English, French and Haitian Creole, the album includes guest appearances by guitarist Marc Ribot, Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, and New Orleans singer-songwriter/guitarist Sarah Quintana.
Capitalist Blues was released in January 2019 on Jazz Village/PIAS, and Breaking The Thermometer in May 2022 on ANTI-.
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