Leyla McCalla : NPR

S.G. Goodman's Teeth Marks is one of NPR Music's favorite roots albums of the year. Photo Illustration: Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: Jackie Lay/NPR

The Best Roots Music of 2022

December 19, 2022 • This year artists working within the orbit of the unstable category "roots music" got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and challenged the rules of established scenes and forms.

Illustration: Huston Wilson for NPR

The 100 Best Songs Of 2022

December 15, 2022 • We ranked a list of 100 songs that reflects the sprawling, energetic messiness of 2022. Start listening.

Stromae's Multitude is one of Ann Powers' favorite albums of 2022. Photo Illustration: Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption

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Photo Illustration: Jackie Lay/NPR

Ann Powers' Top 20 Albums Of 2022

December 6, 2022 • NPR's pop critic and correspondent shares her favorite albums of this year.

Leyla McCalla performs a Tiny Desk concert. Bob Boilen/NPR hide caption

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Bob Boilen/NPR

Leyla McCalla: Tiny Desk Concert

October 20, 2022 • Drawing from her new album Breaking the Thermometer, Leyla McCalla and her band explore the weight of memory in songs deeply immersed in the rhythms, sounds and history of Haiti.

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 1

A sketch map of Saint-Domingue, a French colony in the Caribbean from 1659-1890. Following a revolution by enslaved Africans, the territory was declared the Republic of Haiti. Archive Photos/Getty Images hide caption

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Archive Photos/Getty Images

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 1

WXPN

March 15, 2021 • In order to understand the deep connections and musical relationship between Haiti and New Orleans, we must go back to before Haiti was Haiti.

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms & the Music of New Orleans: Episode 1

23:27

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Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 2

Circa 1795: Lithograph of Haitian general Francois Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture, whose heroic stand against French rule thwarted Napoleon's ambition for a North American empire. MPI/Getty Images hide caption

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MPI/Getty Images

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 2

WXPN

March 15, 2021 • What we often call French is actually Haitian. We see this imprint on New Orleans in countless ways — in its food, architecture, art, but most notably, in the music.

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms & the Music of New Orleans: Episode 2

27:53

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Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 4

The 2020 Krewe du Kanaval celebration in New Orleans: Paul Beaubrun (left), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (top right), members of the Haitian collective Lakou Mizik. Courtesy of Erika Goldring hide caption

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Courtesy of Erika Goldring

World Cafe Words and Music Podcast

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms And The Music Of New Orleans: Episode 4

WXPN

March 15, 2021 • Musicians, artists and organizers in Haiti and New Orleans discuss how they have navigated this year, the lessons and wisdom they've drawn from history, and the future they're trying to create.

Kanaval: Haitian Rhythms & the Music of New Orleans: Episode 4

18:53

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Leyla McCalla Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Leyla McCalla Has The Capitalist Blues

WXPN

May 8, 2019 • Although the topics are heavy, McCalla's music is danceable. This is a treatment informed by the artist's Haitian roots and adopted New Orleans traditions.

Layla McCalla On World Cafe

29:14

'Songs Of Our Native Daughters' Lays Out A Crucial, Updated Framework for Americana

Our Native Daughters' Songs Of Our Native Daughters comes out Feb. 22 via Smithsonian Folkways. Terri Fensel/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Terri Fensel/Courtesy of the artist

Review

First Listen

'Songs Of Our Native Daughters' Lays Out A Crucial, Updated Framework for Americana

February 14, 2019 • Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla form a banjo-wielding supergroup dedicated to the history of both string-band music and black women in America.

Leyla McCalla Sings 'The Capitalist Blues' With Feeling and Wisdom

Leyla McCalla's The Capitalist Blues comes out Jan. 25. Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist

Review

First Listen

Leyla McCalla Sings 'The Capitalist Blues' With Feeling and Wisdom

January 17, 2019 • On her bustling third album, the former Carolina Chocolate Drops member maps her vision of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora while gently taking Anglocentricism (and capitalism) down a notch.

Capitalist Greed Is Child's Play For Leyla McCalla In 'Money Is King' Video

Leyla McCalla Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Sarrah Danzinger/Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Capitalist Greed Is Child's Play For Leyla McCalla In 'Money Is King' Video

WXPN

January 16, 2019 • The Carolina Chocolate Drops cellist finds modern social and political issues in a 1930s calypso song. Watch the video premiere.

Rhiannon Giddens Forms Our Native Daughters, Shares Harrowing 'Mama's Cryin' Long'

Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah are Our Native Daughters. Their debut album comes out Feb. 22. Terri Fensel/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Terri Fensel/Courtesy of the artist

New Music

Rhiannon Giddens Forms Our Native Daughters, Shares Harrowing 'Mama's Cryin' Long'

December 13, 2018 • Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Allison Russell and Leyla McCalla all contribute to Songs of Our Native Daughters, out Feb. 22.

Lost Bayou Ramblers Reimagine A Cajun Dance Song

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Zack Smith/Courtesy of the artist

Review

Songs We Love

Lost Bayou Ramblers Reimagine A Cajun Dance Song

September 26, 2017 • The Pogues' Spider Stacy, Leyla McCalla and the saxophonist Dickie Landry contribute to a deep, atavistic and swampy version of "Kalenda."

Music, Power And Politics Collide On Leyla McCalla's 'A Day For The Hunter'

Leyla McCalla's latest album is A Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Music Interviews

Music, Power And Politics Collide On Leyla McCalla's 'A Day For The Hunter'

May 29, 2016 • A classically trained cellist with songs rooted in Haitian folk, McCalla embraces the intersections of art and history in her work. Her new album is A Day for the Hunter, a Day for the Prey.

Music, Power And Politics Collide On Leyla McCalla's 'A Day For The Hunter'

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Transcript

Songs We Love: Leyla McCalla, 'A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey'

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Courtesy of the artist

Review

The Record

Songs We Love: Leyla McCalla, 'A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey'

March 23, 2016 • Great new Haitian/Creole-influenced music and video from the singer-songwriter-violinist (and ex-Carolina Chocolate Drop); plus, an interview about where her creative energy now resides.

A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey

3:18

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Leyla McCalla performs live on Folk Alley. Folk Alley hide caption

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Folk Alley

Favorite Sessions

Folk Alley Presents: Leyla McCalla

Folk Alley

March 9, 2014 • The cellist and folk musician balances original compositions with Haitian folk songs on her new album. Watch McCalla perform a song that gives musical life to words Langston Hughes wrote long ago.