About this item

EDITORIAL REVIEWS Leyla McCallas new album A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey, takes its title by a book of the same name that the singer and cellist read while pregnant with her first daughter. Taking its title in turn from a Haitian proverb, the book analyzes the intersection of politics, power and music in Haiti. McCalla, a former member of The Carolina Chocolate Drops who now calls New Orleans home, was struck by how political crisis can create a scene for music to be born. Through deeply felt originals and interpretations of traditional songs from Creole, Cajun, Haitian, American folk and jazz canons, the album depicts a diverse American experience and Leylas struggles with and acceptance of her own identity. A Day For The Hunter, A Day For The Prey includes guests Rhiannon Giddens (a bandmate in the Carolina Chocolate Drops) , guitarist Marc Ribot, fiddler Louis Michot of Lost Bayou Ramblers and more. Named 2013s Album of the Year by the London Sunday Times and Songlines magazine, Leyla McCallas debut album, Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes, made a profound impression upon all who heard it. The record, which set some of Hughes poems to Leylas music, and also included original compositions and Haitian folk songs, received rapturous reviews for its haunting mixture of music and message.