{"title":"Leyla McCalla","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLeyla McCalla is an American classical\/folk singer, songwriter, cellist, banjoist and guitarist. Born on October 3, 1985 in New York City, she currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana. With a diverse musical background and influences ranging from classical to folk, Leyla's unique sound captivates audiences worldwide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer music showcases her exceptional talent as a multi-instrumentalist and her soulful vocals resonate with emotion. Drawing inspiration from her Haitian heritage and the rich cultural tapestry of New Orleans, Leyla's songs are both introspective and socially conscious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHaving collaborated with renowned artists such as Amythyst Kiah and Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla has established herself as a prominent figure in the contemporary folk scene. Her music resonates with fans of artists like Adia Victoria, Kaia Kater, and Valerie June. Experience the captivating melodies and heartfelt lyrics of *Leyla McCalla* today.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"sun-without-the-heat","title":"Sun Without The Heat","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn her new album \u003cem\u003eSun Without the Heat\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eMcCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e brings more playfulness and joy than she has on previous records when she speaks to the concerns that have shaped her career, mainly including an ethos in which you must look back at lost and erased histories before you can embrace a forward vision of Afrofuturism and the importance of music making to heal and forge relationships across differences.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAcross \u003cem\u003eSun Without the Heat\u003c\/em\u003e's ten tracks, she achieves this with music that combines jazz, Haitian Twoubadou, American blues, folk, and Brazilian Tropicalismo. Born in New York City to Haitian emigrants and activists, \u003cstrong\u003eMcCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e possesses a stunning mastery of the cello, tenor banjo, and guitar.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA founding member of Our Native Daughters alongside Rhiannon Giddens, Amysthyst Kiah, and Allison Russell and an alumna of Grammy award-winning band The Carolina Chocolate Drops, \u003cstrong\u003eMcCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e has also received considerable praise and attention for her solo works, including 2014's \u003cem\u003eVari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes\u003c\/em\u003e, which prompted the New York Times to rave that \"her voice is disarmingly natural, and her settings are elegantly succinct\" and 2022's \u003cem\u003eBreaking The Thermometer\u003c\/em\u003e (4\/5 review from The Guardian).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLyrically on \u003cem\u003eSun Without the Heat\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eMcCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e draws from the writings of Black feminist Afrofuturist thinkers Octavia Butler, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Adrienne Maree Brown, among others, with frequent themes being grief, connection, and motherhood. Like these authors, \u003cstrong\u003eMcCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e is thinking hard about collaboration as a means of creative expression, community thinking, personal salvation, and rectifying social injustice. \"The stories we've been told about ourselves and the stories that we have to learn to undo the stories we've been told,\" she explains. Sometimes these are painful stories to tell. This is especially vivid in the title song, \"\u003cem\u003eSun Without the Heat\u003c\/em\u003e.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anti","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50405418271051,"sku":"2178222","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50405416960331,"sku":"2178220","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/ced59954-677e-49a3-8dca-4178ee30c750_0f92893a_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726577141"},{"product_id":"vari-colored-songs-a-tribute-to-langston-hughes","title":"Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute To Langston Hughes","description":"\u003cp\u003eLeyla McCalla's 'Vari-Colored Songs' is a celebration of the complexity of Black culture and identity, and a tribute to the legacy of poet and thinker Langston Hughes. A songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, McCalla sets Hughes' poems to her own spare yet profound compositions. She juxtaposes these with arrangements of folk songs from Haiti, the first independent Black nation and the homeland of her parents, tapping into the nuances of Black experience. McCalla's music elegantly weaves Haitian influences together with American folk music, just as Hughes incorporated Black vernacular into his remarkable poetry, and the way the Haitian Kreyòl is a beacon for the survival of African identity through the brutal legacy of colonialism. This is music of reclamation, imbued with a quiet power that grapples with the immense weight of history.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Smithsonian Folkways","offers":[{"title":"Black | LP","offer_id":50473864790347,"sku":"1103455","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50473866002763,"sku":"1103454","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/672f2cf8-33d9-4959-ac3c-077dd5f66339_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727431615"},{"product_id":"breaking-the-thermometer","title":"Breaking The Thermometer","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLeyla McCalla\u003c\/strong\u003e finds inspiration from her past and present, whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans. She is a bilingual multi-instrumentalist and alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMcCalla has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. She has produced a multi-disciplinary music, dance, and theatre work, \u003cem\u003eBreaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever\u003c\/em\u003e, which follows her personal journey as she uncovers the history of Radio Haiti, the first radio station in Haiti to report news in Haitian Kreyol - the voice of the people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThrough this juxtaposition of voices - the personal and political, the anecdotal and the journalistic - McCalla gives expression to the enduring spirit of Haiti's marginalized poor in the face of several centuries of political oppression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePerformances of the theatre work are currently scheduled in New Orleans and Philadelphia with more to be announced soon. The process of creating \u003cem\u003eBreaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever\u003c\/em\u003e included listening to countless archival recordings of interviews by Radio Haiti's journalists.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMcCalla specifically wrote \"\u003cem\u003eFort Dimanche\u003c\/em\u003e\" after listening to a testimonial interview that Michele Montas - the prominent former journalist and station director at Radio Haiti - had conducted with a survivor of Duvalier's political prison.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the interview, the man outlined his living conditions, the daily terror and torture that these political prisoners were subjected to, and the events that led to his arrest. This album is a soundtrack of sorts to the theatre piece, featuring the songs that Leyla McCalla wrote and performs in this work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Anti","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50917437440331,"sku":"1151279","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50917437702475,"sku":"1151278","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/dcb81bb7-95cd-489d-acb4-58638a373a10_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1733073286"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/collections\/test_e8e0caf2_thumbnail_4096_e6d01dc9-a6e5-4909-b9b0-d37991c83791.jpg?v=1725283612","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/collections\/leyla-mccalla.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}