Leyla McCalla

Music fails to recognise cultural boundaries and borders. You want proof? How about a Haitian-American who sings in French, Haitian, Creole and English?

Leyla McCalla effortlessly does this while playing cello, tenor banjo and guitar to virtuoso levels. She draws influence from traditional Creole, Cajun and Haitian music. She then mixes this with a shot of American Jazz and a sprig of folk.

Her gift is to serve this up as music which is fresh, soulful, intimate and sincere. A sublime resonance of three centuries of nomadic culture that somehow defines contemporary. Leyla gracefully demonstrates all of the reasons why we ever fell in love with music as an artform.