Leyla McCalla
CREDIT: Rush Jagoe
Wednesday January 18, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Cost: $50
CL RECOMMENDS
CL Critic Doug DeLoach Recommends: New Orleans-based singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla will perform two concerts on Fri., Jan. 18, at Ramsey Hall at the University of Georgia Performing Arts Center in Athens. A former member of the Grammy-winning African American string band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, McCalla draws on inspiration from her Haitian heritage and adopted home of New Orleans to create music that is simultaneously culturally significant, historically poignant, deeply soulful and playfully witty. Singing in English, French and Haitian Creole, McCalla will perform a program featuring selections from Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever, a multidisciplinary work that uncovers the history of Radio Haiti, Haiti’s first privately owned Creole-speaking radio station.— DD
From the venue:
Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present, whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans. This multi-instrumentalist and alumna of the Grammy-winning African American string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. McCalla’s music is at once earthy, elegant, soulful, and witty. It vibrates with three centuries of history, yet also feels strikingly fresh, distinctive, and contemporary and features lyrics sung in English, French, and Haitian Creole.