Leyla McCalla

Both of McCalla's parents were born in Haiti.[6] Her father Jocelyn McCalla[8] was the Executive Director of the New York-based National Coalition for Haitian Rights[9] from 1988 to 2006[10] and is credited as translator on her album Vari-Colored Songs.[11] Her mother Régine Dupuy arrived in the United States at age 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, an anti-domestic violence human rights organization.[9] McCalla's younger sister, Sabine McCalla, is also a musician in New Orleans.[12][13]

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

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

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

In 2019–20, McCalla toured with her Leyla McCalla Quartet, which included New Orleans musicians Dave Hammer (electric guitar), Shawn Myers (drums/percussion), and Pete Olynciw (electric and acoustic bass).[17][18]

McCalla's critically acclaimed album Vari-Colored Songs is a tribute to Langston Hughes, which included adaptations of 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" because 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 an artist."[6] McCalla started working on the album 5 years prior to its release.[6] Commentators have noted the influence of Louisiana musical traditions such as old Cajun fiddle melodies and trad-jazz banjo on the album.[5] Members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops appear on the album.[5] The album was financed at least in part through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter which exceeded its goal of $5,000 to raise $20,000.[15]

As of 2019, McCalla is married to fellow musician, and electrician, Daniel Tremblay. They live in the New Orleans area and have three children.[9][16][20][21]

• Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes[19] (February 4, 2014, Music Maker)[6]
• A Day 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-)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leyla McCalla.

• Official website