Leyla McCalla: Tiny Desk Concert
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2022
- Ann Powers | October 20, 2022
“How much does a memory weigh?” Leyla McCalla sings halfway through her Tiny Desk performance in a voice that feels like it’s floating in water - swimming, drowning, escaping, returning home - as it intertwines with the seaweed lines of Nahum Zdybel’s guitar. That question, from her ballad “Memory Song,” is central to the music she and her band offer in this sparkling, thoughtful set. This music originated within McCalla's theater piece about independent station Radio Haiti, Breaking the Thermometer To Hide the Fever, which she transformed into one of 2022’s most compelling albums. From the driving, danceable call to revolution “Dodinin” to “Nan Fon Bwa,” written by renowned guitarist Frantz Casseus and now a showcase for McCalla’s funky cello work, she and her band - all players deeply immersed in Haiti’s rhythms and songlines - enact a historical journey that honors a nation born in revolution and still fighting, despite unfathomable hardship, today.
McCalla’s parents immigrated to New York as kids, during François Duvalier’s murderous regime. “I’ve been curious about that period in their lives and Haitian history for a long time,” she says, introducing “Fort Dimanche,” which samples an interview conducted by Radio Haiti’s cofounder Michèle Montas about life within the country’s most notoriously brutal prison. The song begins quietly, led by McCalla’s circular banjo lines, then builds a dream of freedom through the rhythms of Markus Schwartz's congas and Pete Olyinciw’s bowed and plucked upright bass. Memory’s shape is latticework, delicate and non-linear, and McCalla’s songs honor its partial revelations with the grace of deep attention.
SET LIST
Dodinin
Memory Song
Fort Dimanche
Nan Fon Bwa
MUSICIANS
Leyla McCalla - vocals, cello, banjo, electric guitar
Pete Olynciw - upright bass
Shawn Myers - drums
Nahum Zdybel - electric guitar
Markus Schwartz - Congas
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bob Boilen
Director/Editor: Joshua Bryant
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern
Audio Assistant: Natasha Branch
Production Assistant: Jill Britton
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
#TinyDesk #NPRMusic #LeylaMcCalla
musicians and humans like Leyla McCalla and her band are the reasons I love NPR's Tiny Desk series so much...from my heart to yours, thank you so very much.
brilliant musician, historian, storyteller. thank you Leyla!
Thank you AYITI 🇭🇹 🇭🇹 🇭🇹 for being a beacon of liberty for us melanated people
I just heard that Leyla has been booked for the Greenbelt festival in August 2024, and I’m loving what I’m hearing here.
for those interested more in hand drums: 'The tanbou is the national musical instrument and type of barrel drum from Haiti. The drum is used in many music genres of Haiti and has been influential in the rest of the Caribbean and Latin American world.'
She looks like she's from a painting, simply breathtaking
Yea like a man
And little green man stole her/his necklace !
@@jxstsxint8206 sad
Satire? 🤔
Absolutely stunning!!!
I'm a fan and so proud of her as a fellow musician and Haitian as well!!!
Oh my God !! Quelle merveilleuse découverte que Leyla 😍😍 Mizik ek Kreyol ayiti ka koulé kon myel an zorey mwen !! Mézanmi bèl bagay !! Bel bô from Martinique ❤❤
"Without the Truth, we don't know ourselves" 😭 - this is an exquisite performance - brava all - and love you so my chosen sister, Leyla 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
Excellent! She is so proud of her Haitian ancestry, and rightfully so!
"Nan Fon Bwa" was like a morning coming alive -- dawn's first light, birds stirring, animals emerging from their night nests -- that rhythm hastening up and upwards.
I saw this beautiful brown woman holding a banjolele ...my eyes got big...heart stopped...then it melted!!! I 👏🏼CAN 👏🏼NOT 👏🏼TAKE IT!! Like what did y'all just do to me???!!! And you just hit me with some history too. Wow! What a treat! Thank you so much!
@@DarkFae888 As a teenager I fell in love with the sound of the Banjo and bluegrass music. People made fun of me...but that instrument spoke to my soul. As a young adult I found out the origins of the banjo and it became even more special. Now I'm 40 about to take my 1st banjo lesson with a Clawhammer! Full circle. I'm willing to share though..banjo people let's unite and sing the world a song.
Layla plays a tenor banjo! More commonly used in the Caribbean, New Orleans Jazz, and traditional Irish music. A very interesting instrument - came from the merging of west African banjo knowledge and standard European harmonics (it’s tuned in perfect 5ths, just like a mandolin or violin). She’s virtuosic with it!
@@elliot8230 That's good to know! I couldn't tell what it was. I originally thought it was the banjolele ...which still would've been cool 🤣 Perhaps one day I can progress to that. The banjos I tried out were so surprisingly heavy for me ,especially since I am transitioning from the ukelele. Found out it's the resonator that gives the weight. She executed so well. Her voice and her band will color my fall I think.
@@denaa4517 The resonator does indeed add a lot of weight! A tenor without a resonator (like the one Layla plays) if pretty comparable in weight to a standard acoustic guitar. It’s a joy to play, best of luck on your musical journey!
@@elliot8230 You're dropping knowledge my friend!! Thank you so much.
I saw her at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. What a voice
Her ability to blend good things are great.
Worked for 10 months in Haiti, quit my job due to safety but Compá is one of those things I miss from my time there. Sak pase zanmi mwen haiti!
Nap bule
I first discovered this amazing artist by pure coincidence during Jazz fest in 2016. I had been enjoying the day by walking around while perusing every act I could catch. The second I heard her beautiful voice and majestic playing I was hypnotized. I found a seat to listen and wouldn’t move until she was done performing, though my buddies requested we move on. The way she explained the meaning of her music between each song added a layer to the narrative she was presenting that painted a vivid picture. I’m so happy to see her have the spotlight in Tiny Desk.
Me too! My local friends knew of her and said we have to go see her perform. I was enthralled too - glad to see her on Tiny Desk.
I agree about narratives being fascinating
First time listening to Leyla and what a pleasant experience. I’ll certainly be listening to more.
This music hit my Haitian soul very hard. Love it 🥰. Epi mizisyen yo move move.
Reminds me so much of Rhiannon Giddens, from the banjo to the dedication to music and revival of an important and unknown to most history to the sheer beauty of her creations. Thank you, Tiny Desk.
She was a member of Carolina Chocolate Drops with Rhiannon Giddens and also Our Native Daughters.
I saw her perform during Jazz Fest some years back. My friends know her and wanted to go listen. She was amazing.
Je reconnais sa voix entre toutes, je l'ai écoutée à la radio plusieurs fois ces dernières années, j'aime sa musique, son groupe, je vous remercie d'avoir pu réaliser cette vidéo/concert......Congratulations with to my respects for Leyla
0:00 Dodinin
7:08 Memory Song
11:57 Fort Dimanche
16:54 Nan Fon Bwa
❤❤❤
do u know how I can just listen to music in the style of "Nan Fon Bwa"? for studying I could listen to this forever.
Thank you very much tiny desk so beautiful song very nice voce thank you for sharing these good musicians 🌼🌺🕊️👍🏾
Beautiful 🇭🇹🇭🇹 !!! yet another Haitian treasure lost to Haiti. I love that she is remembering who she is and her ancestry I am a fan too now
She is an American born New Yorker, 1985. A Haitian American took me to one of her concerts years ago. Her history is not lost to her or to the many who treasure their heritage
@@shivanidumas6607 All very true! but her and thousands of other Haitian Americans will most likely never move back to Haiti or be part of the economy in Haiti. Not because they do not want to, no. Or because America took them away from Haiti, no not at all. It just is and their is more to that than I am saying here but, A treasure that is not in Haiti is a lost treasure to Haiti. Her children if she has any, will most likely be American and so on.
@jeffchery8225 stop saying she's lost treasure , there are some born young men and women who were born in Haiti with talents instead of cherish them the Haitian community bring them down , I'm glad she's an American born and her children will be American, Haiti doesn't offer nothing to it's youth.
Really wonderful. Exquisite playing.
Great early morning jams. Thanks, NPR! Talented group!!
Love this so much I bought her recent album. Thank you Leyla and NPR
So much admiration for her.. what a grateful discovery for me today. Thank you NPR for such yet another gift 🧡
One of the best albums of the year 🤍
I've been listening to her and her sister for a couple of years; so cool to see Leyla here on Tiny Desk. A lovely performance!
What is her sister's name?
@@FernandoDuarteBandolim Sabine McCalla
@@Maxiiim02 thanks!
@@FernandoDuarteBandolim You're welcome!
From the first second, I loved this music. Go Tiny Desk!!
She is ABSOLUTLEY correct about Haiti. They in their (Haitian) Revolution. Inspired Black People who were enslaved world wide that we could break ourselves free from the Colonizers by force if we united and worked together. I am African American but I have love for all my Brothers and Sisters world wide and especially my Haitian Brothers and Sisters. One love to Toussaint Loventure and Jean-Jaques Dessolines!! And another thing....if you have not eaten Haitian food then what are you doing with your life? AMAZING performance as well....
Speak on the warships parked off the coast after the fact
Imagine a whole country in poverty because your still paying off your "debt" from buying your own "freedom".
Trash. 👍🏻
First time hearing her - she has a new fan!
I have been listening to her for a while now and have enjoyed her live several times in small venues. We even ran into them afterward. Lovely, kind, gracious, and talented human being. So happy to see her getting the recognition she deserves.
7/25/23 Only wish the Cape Cod Payomet Tent had been as packed as it should have been last night. Most riveting live concert I've seen/heard in many years! Every song opened my heart. Every word, brilliant! Thank you to Leyla and her excellent band!!
Have loved her music for such a long time. ‘Our Native Daughters’ musical documentary ought to be curriculum for everyone in this country.
Thank you for this amazing performance posted here.
Will be checking that out. Thank you for sharing that.💛
@@denaa4517 It is absolutely amazing!
she's on my favorite radio station all the time , here in france, amazing to see her getting more recognition in the states as well - that Dodinin song is straight up fire
What is that radio station?
@@gdemaio6185 i'm betting FIP!
France Inter
Thank you all for this music
She’s so beautiful
Awesome band, that bass sounds amazing
A real one. Thank u ms McCalla.
Bring them back! Music well done with tremendous talent all around.🎶🎵🎶🎶🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶👏👏👏🙏🏼
Terrific Music, full of life but with dark overtones. You are very talented Leyla. Thank you all.
Merci encore pour ce merveilleux moment de partage avec Leyla sur cette vidéo
omg, that's my drum teacher!
Just love her "Creole" voice....
Thank you Tiny Desk sponsor for Leyla McCalla’s exquisite ‘soulful’ rendering. Gratitude and Thanks
Great set!! I love it! Thank you Tiny Desk for sharing great music!
Brilliant, deeply moving. Thank you.
I'm sold
Wonderful performance... As a swede it's really interesting that i heard similarities to Swedish folk jazz in the last piece.
Man I clicked this so fast. I love her music and when she did a collab with Cedric Watson
I have no idea what she’s saying but I like it
wonderful Leyla, amazing performance❤
Breathtaking! ❤
I'd love to see they play she talks about! Long time fan from México ❤
Amé! Qué maravillosa música! Muchísimas gracias!!
Thanks for posting!
Yon vibe dous, bon jan son lakay!
Deeply beautiful.
Que sonoridad musical,me encantó.Saludos desde Uruguay.Muy bueno.
Que grande es el mundo ...y la diversidad de culturas ...pero a pesar de las grandes diferencias del idioma..y los ritmos.....lo que te hace sentir es la misma expresión de felicidad ....la alegria o nostalgia..las ganas de bailar o moverse al ritmo de cualquier tonada .....que vívamos los seres humanos y nuestra gran diversidad y nuestras culturas...los quiere un colombiano mas que camina por este planeta
STARTED DANCING STRAIGHT AWAY, WOW!
I JUST REALIZED THEYRE LIKE SUPERHEROES AND PLAYING IS THEIR SUPERPOWER.
Umm... yup... that was worth the watch👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Super ! Bravo Leyla ...the last instrumental piece is magical: "suspended moment" :)
Beautiful music. I'm a new fan!
❤🎉 so good!
i need to go to Haiti now
A stunning, heartfelt, rich sound. See you in NOLA in '24!
love you Leyla ! ! ! ! !
Anmweyyy 😂 I love it 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳💃🏽🕺🏽😩🥃
Thank you 🇭🇹🔥🔥
really cool stuff. nan fon bwa is an excellent piece!
Nan fon bwa 😍
she commands respect and the music ist totally awesome
beautiful!!
Increíble ‼️😱🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
one of my dreams to be on a tiny desk concert for NPR. love that room so much lol
Amazing!
So cool!
Trop beau . Bravo
que belleza!!!!! muy bueno realmente
Sencillamente fantástico....
That intro reminds me of our vacations to Surinam!
Super gorgeous and amazing!!!
AMAZING !!!
Wow... feel proud.😍
Fantástica!
Love this!
🎵🕉☮️☯️💙🎵
Super smart and well spoken person right there.
Absolutely amazing! ...and that dress. I want that dress.
¡Eccentric... I like it!
Amazing
WOW!
Real Cool
Such a great discovery. Always a pleasure to hear Creole. @npr Can you bring Newen Afrobeat?
wow!
incredibly beautiful
Groovy 🔥 🔥 🔥
que coisa mais linda!!!
Trabalho valioso demais, e gostoso de ouvir! Giant!
Dope