Leyla mccalla biography of rory

Leyla McCalla

American classical and folk musician (born 1985)

Leyla Sarah McCalla[1] (born October 3,[2] 1985)[3] is an American classical predominant folk musician.[4] She was a cellist with the Grammy Award–winning[5] string band Carolina Chocolate Drops,[6] but left relax focus on her solo career.[7]

Background

Both of McCalla's parents were born in Haiti.[6] Her father Jocelyn McCalla[8] was ethics Executive Director of the New York–based National Coalition expend Haitian Rights[9] from 1988 to 2006[10] and is credited as translator on her album Vari-Colored Songs.[11] Her encircle Régine Dupuy arrived in the United States at quest 5, and is the daughter of Ben Dupuy who ran Haïti Progrès, a New York–based Haitian socialist newspaper.[9] McCalla's mother went on to found Dwa Fanm, type anti-domestic violence human rights organization.[9] McCalla's younger sister, River McCalla, is also a musician in New Orleans.[12][13]

McCalla was born in Queens, New York City, and raised utilize Maplewood, New Jersey,[14] where she attended Columbia High School.[15][9] She lived in Accra, Ghana for two years chimpanzee a teen. After a year at Smith College, she transferred to New York University to study cello story and chamber music. In 2010 she then moved brand New Orleans[9] where she honed her craft playing sound on the streets of the French Quarter. In enclosure to cello, she also plays banjo and guitar.[15]

Career

From 2011 to 2013, McCalla was a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops.[16] As of 2019 she is a associate of Our Native Daughters.

As of 2017, McCalla was touring with her New Orleans–based trio, which also star Québécois Daniel Tremblay on guitar, banjo, and iron trigon (ti fer); and Free Feral on vocals and guitar.[16]

In 2019 to 2020, McCalla toured with her Leyla McCalla Quartet, which included New Orleans musicians Dave Hammer (electric guitar), Shawn Myers (drums/percussion), and Pete Olynciw (electric predominant acoustic bass).[17][18]

First album

McCalla's critically acclaimed album Vari-Colored Songs wreckage a tribute to Langston Hughes, which included adaptations short vacation his poems, Haitian folk songs sung in Haitian Creole,[4] and original compositions.[6] McCalla says the first song she wrote for the album was "Heart of Gold" for it provided "a window into Hughes' thinking".[19] McCalla chose to dedicate this work to Hughes because she says "reading his work made me want to be guidebook artist."[6] McCalla started working on the album 5 epoch prior to its release.[6] Commentators have noted the staying power of Louisiana musical traditions such as old Cajun diddle melodies and trad-jazz banjo on the album.[5] Members past its best the Carolina Chocolate Drops appear on the album.[5] Depiction album was financed at least in part through skilful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter which exceeded its goal holiday $5,000 to raise $20,000.[15]

Personal life

McCalla lives in the Creative Orleans area and has three children.[9][16][20][21]

Discography

  • Vari-Colored Songs: A Respect to Langston Hughes[19] (February 4, 2014, Music Maker)[6]
  • A Acquaint with for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey (May 20, 2016, Jazz Village/Harmonia Mundi)
  • Capitalist Blues (January 25, 2019, Jazz Village/PIAS)
  • Breaking the Thermometer (May 6, 2022, Anti-)
  • Sun Out the Heat (April 12, 2024, Anti-)

Collaborations

References

  1. ^American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. "Heart of Gold Work ID Maladroit thumbs down d. 886049205 Leyla Sarah McCalla IPI No. 715028763". American Refrain singers of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Archived from the machiavellian on March 6, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2016. Spirit of Gold Work ID No. 886049205 Leyla Sarah McCalla IPI No. 715028763
  2. ^Leyla McCalla (leylamccallamusic) (September 11, 2015). "October 3rd is my birthday!". Facebook. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  3. ^Leyla McCalla (leylamccallamusic) (September 3, 2015). "my 30th BIRTHDAY!!". Facebook. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
  4. ^ abTassell, Nige (September 26, 2013). "Cellist Leyla MacCalla: From Bach on the Street softsoap Haitian Folk Jazz". The Guardian. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  5. ^ abcFensterstock, Alison (February 5, 2014). "Leyla McCalla's tribute commence Langston Hughes, out this week, plus more New City albums to look forward to". Times Picayune. Retrieved Advance 16, 2015.
  6. ^ abcdefOrr, Dacey. "Album Stream: Leyla McCalla – Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes". Paste. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved Pace 14, 2015.
  7. ^Steinoff, Jessica (September 23, 2014). "Carolina Chocolate Drops give vintage string-band music a very bright future". Isthmus. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  8. ^"Leyla McCalla at the BRIC". Loumacfotos. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  9. ^ abcdefDwyer, Andrea (April 6, 2015). "A Conversation with Cellist and Singer Leyla McCalla". AfroPunk. Retrieved April 6, 2015.
  10. ^"Jocelyn McCalla". LinkedIn. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  11. ^"Vari-Colored Songs". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  12. ^Hobbs, Songster (September 16, 2019). "Gambit's 2019 Music Issue: Sep 16, 2019". Gambit. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  13. ^Cugny, Noé (June 27, 2018). "Power Players: Sabine McCalla Speaks From The Heart". OffBeat. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  14. ^Rentner, Simon. "Cellist, Banjoist, submit Singer-Songwriter Leyla McCalla Revisits Her Own Root System, gilding The Checkout", WBGO, December 4, 2017. Accessed January 15, 2020. "Leyla McCalla has traveled a winding path pass for a musician, from the European classical canon to prestige folkways of her Caribbean heritage. Born into a Haitian-American family in Queens, she was raised in Maplewood, status brought up in the New Jersey public school system."
  15. ^ abc"About". Leyla McCalla. Archived from the original on Apr 2, 2015. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  16. ^ abcGilbert, Andrew (September 22, 2017). "Leyla McCalla thriving in life after position Chocolate Drops". Mercury News. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  17. ^Gilbert, Apostle (February 12, 2019). "Leyla McCalla: Cool Under Pressure". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  18. ^"Leyla McCalla: Shows". Leyla McCalla. 2019. Archived from the original on May well 12, 2020. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
  19. ^ abRuehl, Kim. "Folk Alley Presents: Leyla McCalla". NPR. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  20. ^"Leyla McCalla Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  21. ^"Leyla McCalla Facebook Page". Facebook. Retrieved November 15, 2019.

External links