Leyla McCalla - Breaking The Thermometer

2022 CD release.

"Memories of Haiti come to me in waves".

"As my work on the theater piece Breaking the Thermometer to Hide the Fever began to materialize, I began to also hear an album in the making. After years of digesting audio recordings from the Radio Haiti archive housed at Duke University, with guidance from director Kiyoko McCrae and archivist Laura Wagner, I started to imagine how my personal story, the story of Radio Haiti and the story of Haiti-US relations could be connected through song in one album. While many of the songs on the album are inspired by the listening that I have done in the archive, much of the album is deeply self-reflective — integrating experiences that I have had navigating life as a child both in the US and Haiti, my journey in claiming my Haitian-American identity and understanding the experiences, sacrifices and challenges overcome by my immigrant relatives. This story is mine in many ways and yet belongs to the greater movement for freedom of speech and human rights worldwide".
— Leyla McCalla