Leyla McCalla
Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever
Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present, whether it is her Haitian heritage or her adopted home of New Orleans, she — a bilingual multi-instrumentalist, and alumna of Grammy award-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. This Haitian Heritage Month, join Live Arts Miami to experience McCalla’s latest project, Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever, a new multidisciplinary performance work exploring themes of exile, return, and the complexities of what it means to be Haitian.
Breaking the Thermometer is inspired by the legacy of Radio Haiti-Inter, Haiti’s first independent radio station to broadcast news in Haitian Creole—the voice of the people—until the assassination of the station’s founder, Jean Dominque. The title is derived from a proverb used by Dominique to describe the spirit of Haiti’s marginalized poor in the face of violence and political oppression. Directed by renowned theater director Kiyoko McCrae, the work weaves together arrangements of Haitian songs, traditional dances, audio and video recordings from Duke’s Radio Haiti Archive, and Leyla’s own personal storytelling. Through this juxtaposition of voices — the personal and political, the anecdotal and the journalistic — McCalla gives expression to the enduring spirit of Haiti’s people
Leyla McCalla is also set to release her new album, entitled Breaking The Thermometer, featuring music from this project in conjunction with her Miami performance on May 6. The album features sophisticated melodies and Afro-Caribbean rhythms with lyrics in English and Haitian Creole.
“Her voice is disarmingly natural…her magnificently transparent music holds tidings of family, memory, solitude and the inexorability of time: weighty thoughts handled with the lightest touch imaginable.” —The New York Times
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Leyla McCalla is a New York-born Haitian-American living in New Orleans, who sings in French, Haitian Creole, and English, and plays cello, tenor banjo, and guitar. Deeply influenced by traditional Creole, Cajun, and Haitian music, as well as by American jazz and folk, her music is at once earthy, elegant, soulful, and witty — it vibrates with three centuries of history, yet also feels strikingly fresh, distinctive, and contemporary. By 2014, McCalla had already risen to fame as a member of the GRAMMY Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group she’d spent two years touring and recording with before leaving to pursue her own career. McCalla’s debut album, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, was named 2013’s Album of the Year by the London Sunday Times and Songlines magazine. It was followed by the critically acclaimed 2016 album A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey, an extended exploration of the themes of social justice and pan-African consciousness that marked her debut. In January 2019, McCalla released Capitalist Blues, her first full-band album, which examines, through McCalla’s eyes, the divided sociopolitical climate in the United States. Her latest album, Breaking the Thermometer – inspired by the theatrical piece of the same name, is being released on May 6, 2022.
COVID-19 Considerations:
Live Arts Miami is fully committed to the health and well-being of every visitor,artist and staff member. It continues to closely monitor local COVID-19 conditions as circumstances continue to evolve and change. Facial masks are not currently required at events due to the current low rate of infection. However,individuals will not be granted entry if they have a confirmed case of COVID-19 or have had trace-contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19.