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00:00Hello and welcome to Arts24's weekly music show on France24. Today I have the pleasure
00:16of being joined in the studio by an American multi-instrumentalist.
00:37Cello, tenor, banjo, guitar and multilingual singer-songwriter Leila McCalla counts Barack
00:43Obama as a fan. Her music vibrates from three centuries of history and influences from around
00:48the globe. Her new album is no different, blending sounds from the diaspora including
00:52Afrobeat, Ethiopian modalities, Brazilian Tropicalism, Folk and American Blues. She's
00:57on tour and has dropped in to see us in the studio. Leila McCalla, hello and thanks for
01:01joining us.
01:02Hey, thanks for having me.
01:03Now you're about to play at Paris' Marquinhos venue. That's a personal favourite of mine
01:07and I know that you have the same kind of feelings towards it as well.
01:10Yeah.
01:11And I also believe that's somewhere that helps you with your French, is that right?
01:16Yeah. I mentioned that in my video. I played there years ago when I was touring with the
01:21Carolina Chocolate Drops and I think that was the first time that I was like really
01:27starting to talk to people. I think it was a little glass of red wine like really gets
01:33the conversation going.
01:34It always helps. A good confidence drink.
01:37Yes.
01:38So now you're ready to talk to people in the crowd. When you tour around France, do you
01:41feel more confident?
01:42Yeah. No, my French has really come a long way the past 10 plus years of touring in France
01:50and ever since I released my first record, France has been a very kind landing place
02:00for my music. And I think there's a lot of history that I talk about that's related
02:08to France and cultural and social conversation that is applicable here. And then of course
02:15my family's from Haiti. I sing in Haitian Creole and so there's a historical connection.
02:25There's a huge Haitian diaspora here in Paris. And yeah, it's amazing when you're immersed
02:31and you have to survive how a language kind of comes through you.
02:38Now you're actually on tour with your fifth solo album that came out this spring called
02:42Sun Without the Heat. And now that title is a reference to a Frederick Douglass speech
02:46from 1857 that was done in front of a largely white crowd of abolitionists. And this was
02:52about six years before the Emancipation Proclamation. Why this choice of reference for the album?
02:59I think that when I was, you know, I do a lot of research for all of my records and
03:04I read a lot and I was reading a book written by a woman named Susan Raffo called Liberated
03:10to the Bone. And in it she talks a lot about, you know, the kind of original wounds of American
03:19society and Western civilization in general. And, you know, she talks about the genocide
03:27of indigenous people, the enslavement of Africans, the transatlantic slave trade. And, you know,
03:35I just think that there's kind of this misconception that like, oh, that was then, it was normal
03:42to have slaves then. Like, it was never normal to enslave people and build an empire on it.
03:51It was always, it was always wrong. And people knew that in 1857. But what I think is so
03:58interesting about that quote in particular, I mean, I read it in the book and it just
04:04immediately struck me as lyrics to a song. And it was a song that I felt like I had to
04:09write.
04:10You said that you wanted to make an album that was kind of full of grief, but also joy.
04:14And despite releasing this album back in spring, as I mentioned, it really kind of seems to
04:17reflect this current mood that we're in or the mood in the United States, especially
04:22a week on from the presidential elections. And even in Kamala Harris's concession speech,
04:28she said that only when it's dark enough, you can see the stars. I'm wondering, do you
04:32personally see the stars?
04:35That's a good question. I think if you squint really hard, stars appear. You know, I feel
04:46like there is a lot to be hopeful about. You know, I know that a lot of people are feeling
04:53a lot of despair about the election. I feel despair that we are not more engaged with
05:04each other and with what's happening in our society and in our world in general. You know,
05:12a presidential election is, you know, it's a consequential moment, but it's also really
05:18a reflection of what we haven't been doing, you know, what we haven't been tending to.
05:28You know, I feel that there was a lost opportunity at the Democratic National Convention to silence
05:39Palestinian voices. There are consequences to only telling some parts of the truth. And
05:52sadly, much of the American public is totally fine with that.
05:56Yeah. Well, let's turn to some joy now to have a little change. Sorry. No, but it's
06:02an important conversation. We're looking for the stars. No, but it's, you know, you have
06:06to find the stars in darkness, as we're saying. Now, one of the tracks off your album that
06:10best represents this kind of search for joy is Scale to Survival. Take a quick listen.
06:17Thank you for laughing me into this portal.
06:25What you learned drowning taught me how to breathe.
06:32One ear to the earth. One ear to the sky.
06:40Reminds me that life is not a straight line.
06:45So that was very beautiful. Scale to Survive from Layla McCalla's latest album, Sun Without
06:50the Heat. Now, as you mentioned at the beginning of the show, you were born in New York to
06:54Haitian parents and they emigrated to the US in the 60s, escaping the Duvalier dictatorship.
07:00And Haiti is often at the heart of your work, including your critically acclaimed album,
07:05Breaking the Thermometer, where you really kind of shone a spotlight on the brave work
07:09of journalists at Radio Haiti, who really risked their lives just doing their job. Why
07:14did you want to spotlight their work?
07:19I mean, I think that in general, I'm drawn to stories that feel like they need to be
07:24told that people might not be aware of, especially Haitians of my generation who are living in
07:33the diaspora and looking for a connection to Haiti. I think there's so much to learn
07:40from the experience and the work of these journalists in the 80s and 90s when we were,
07:47you know, being born and little kids. And so for me, that sort of reaching back to understand
07:57the present moment is just a recurring theme. It's a big part of my creative practice. But
08:03I think particularly with Haiti, a country that has been so traditionally maligned, misunderstood,
08:11ostracized, isolated, and sort of denied its sovereignty, you know, Haiti paid billions
08:22of dollars in reparations to the French government. These are things that are all interconnected.
08:30And I feel journalists, who are people who are committed to telling the truth, need to
08:37be spotlighted, you know, at all times.
08:43Now, going back to the US elections, this is actually the first Arts24 music show since
08:50the results came in. Now, lots of artists on the campaign trail really took to supporting
08:54Kamala Harris, like Beyonce and Taylor Swift. And in the aftermath of the election results,
09:00we saw an outpouring of reaction from the likes of Billie Eilish, as well as Ariana
09:05Grande. I'm interested to know your opinion on what role artists should play. Should they
09:09speak out? Should they take action?
09:13I think they should, you know, lead with integrity. If they feel drawn to taking action, then
09:21I think that they should. If they feel that strongly about something, absolutely. You
09:30know, I think it's an individual thing. I think what I love about being able to make
09:36a life in music and make a life in art is getting to process these moments on an emotional
09:44level. And I think artists really connect us with our humanity. And so, you know, I
09:53applaud those women for speaking their truth.
09:57Now you're actually a founding member of Our Native Daughters with Rhiannon Giddens, Amethyst
10:02Kia and Alison Russell. Now, this group has long been exploring the black legacies of
10:07country music and Americana. This was long before Beyonce released Cowboy Carter. Now,
10:13you've met quite a lot of resistance releasing this record, especially from the country music
10:18sector. What did you make of all this backlash?
10:22Racism. I mean, I think it's pretty simple. You know, I think it's pretty simple. Racism.
10:30I think it's pretty, you know, Beyonce's record is undoubtedly a country record. And actually
10:40she kind of speaks to that, like she wanted to make a record to break through that glass
10:48ceiling and to claim what she felt was denied to her. And I think the backlash to it has
10:57been so interesting because it just shows that black women are still being policed,
11:07you know, and the cultural zeitgeist, like, you know, Beyonce has every right to make
11:13a country record.
11:15Yeah. Well, she's actually having the last laugh because her album, Cowboy Carter, has
11:2211 Grammy nominations as now the most nominated artist in Grammy history. Now we're going
11:29to quickly move on to some other music releases of the week and American rock band Lincoln
11:33Parker back seven years after the suicide of frontman Chester Bennington. They've dropped
11:38their eight studio album from zero as well as announcing a new lineup. Emily Armstrong
11:42has replaced Chester Bennington as lead singer, but has had quite a lot of criticism due to
11:47her alleged ties to the church of Scientology and her past support of convicted rapist Danny
11:52Masterson. Now, Armstrong later released a statement distancing herself from the actor.
11:57The band have been on tour. Let's listen to one of the tracks of the album, Mrs. Over
12:01each other.
12:31Okay, that's some new Lincoln Park. Now we've come to the end of the show and I thank our
12:38guest Layla McCalla for coming into the studio. Good luck with the rest of your tour. Thank
12:42you. Now we're going to end with another music release from rapper and singer 070 Shake called
12:47Petritor. Now we'll leave you with the video for Winter Baby New Jersey Blues featuring
12:52her girlfriend, Franco-American actress Lily Rose Depp. Now for more arts and culture,
12:56you can head to our website. There's more news coming up on France 24 after this.
13:01New Jersey blues, my baby gets me through. Cherry syrup, medicine, cures nightmares too.
13:09Toxic fears, processed foods. I pay my dues, I did my time, now I'm coming home to you.