Photos: Rudy Lu

Leyla has played at The Egg in Albany, NY once before. This was as part of the supergroup of female African American folk singers, Our Native Daughters. She reminisced about the hectic nature of that tour with all of the members bringing their families, multiple instruments including young children on 2 tour buses going cross country.

This appearance was more relaxed, Kayla and her longtime bandmates, Nahum Zydbel-guitar, Peter Olynncwi-bass and Shawn Myers-drums taking the stage along with minimal amplification and their instruments.

Leyla’s formal musical education is in classical cello, she is also fluent in guitar and banjo. All were played during this 90 minute performance.

Leyla opened the set and played most of it on electric guitar. The uplifting, striving “Open the Road’ featured an exotic African guitar lead along with Carribean rhythms. The mood was changed with a strident love song“ So I’ll Go”. “Scaled To Survive” is a celebration of life with its trials as well as its triumphs.

Leyla then switched to banjo for “Take Me Away” for an Afrobeat psychedelic groove that featured Peter’s bass as well the psychedelic sounds of Nahum, with Shawn filling in and in the pocket.

“Tree” is viewing our earth from the viewpoint of our tree, a plea to take care of our planet, “Nan Fa Ba” featured the lower end of the audio spectrum with Leyla and Peter in a duet. The listening experience classical and jazzlike in nature,

“Sun Without The Heat” is the title cut of the album released just before this concert, The lyrics are from a speech Frederick Douglas gave to abolitionist preachers 6 years before the Emancipation Proclamation pointing out racial progress is only possible with struggle, “The Tower” is an Afrofuturistic fantasy. Eerie yet hopeful.

“Love We Had” was based on Ethiopian music with Nahum cranking out exotic guitar accompanying exotic dance rhythms. “Give Yourself A Break” is a song of self care. “Memory Song” is dedicated to the civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer”.

“Boukman’s Prayer” was sung in its native Creole”. Boukman was a slave who was sold from Jamaica to Haitian slave owners. He was also a voodoo priest and was an early organizer of the slave revolt in Haiti executed by the French in 1791.

The encore was a RaRa song “Dodiwin”. Rara is a Haitian musical form used to motivate revolution and is celebratory in nature.

This performance captured this moment in Leyla’s journey as a Haitian American artist. Her early membership in the much loved Carolina Chocolate Drops established her as an important artist. Now with a foot firmly planted in each culture, she is helping American audiences understand that Haiti is full of culture/ thought. It is more than the headlines we see in the news. You can follow Leyla on social media and her recordings can be found by clicking here.

Setlist:

Open the Road, So I’ll Go, Scaled to Survive, Take Me Away, Tree, Nan Fa Ba, Sun Without Heat, The Tower, Love We Had, Crown, Give Yourself A Break, Memory Song, Boukman’s Prayer

Encore: Dodiwin

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