Leyla McCalla

Leyla Sarah McCalla (born October 3, 1985) is an American classical and folk musician. She was a cellist with the Grammy Award–winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops,

Background Both of McCalla's parents were born in Haiti. was the Executive Director of the New York–based National Coalition for Haitian Rights from 1988 to 2006 and is credited as translator on her album Vari-Colored Songs. 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.

McCalla was born in Queens, New York City, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, where she attended Columbia High School.

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 and acoustic bass).

First album 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, McCalla says the first song she wrote for the album was "Heart of Gold" because it provided "a window into Hughes' thinking". McCalla chose to dedicate this work to Hughes because she says "reading his work made me want to be an artist."

Discography Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes (February 4, 2014, Music Maker) 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-) Sun Without the Heat (April 12, 2024, Anti-)

Collaborations Carolina Chocolate Drops: Leaving Eden (February 24, 2012, Nonesuch) Our Native Daughters: Songs of Our Native Daughters (February 22, 2019, Smithsonian Folkways)