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Rhiannon Giddens and Cheryse McLeod Lewis have been friends for a long time. The two met during middle school in Greensboro and remained friends until they parted ways for different out-of-state colleges. But Giddens, who sings and plays banjo with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and McLeod Lewis, an opera singer who teaches singing and performs as a solo act, reconnected when they returned to Greensboro after college.

"We were both at UNCG doing post-grad work," Giddens says. "We started talking, and the first time we sang a duet together, we were like, 'Whoa, this is awesome. We need to do something with this.'"

So, the two joined forces to create the duo Eleganza. They recently released their first CD, "Because I Knew You."

"We were so excited when we got the box of CDs in the mail. We did a dance in the UPS store," says McLeod Lewis with a laugh. "The disc has a pretty eclectic mix. We have musical theater, spirituals, sacred songs like 'O Divine Redeemer,' and we even have some opera duets."

The CD was a labor of love for the twosome. Between a new baby and her duties with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, as well as other side projects, Giddens stays busy. And McLeod Lewis, who does voiceover work and modeling gigs in addition to singing and teaching, barely has time to breathe, much less record an album. Yet they made it work.

"Both of us are really busy, and we really want to do it because we just enjoy it so much," Giddens says. "I don't have a lot of time to do this, but I make it happen because I want it to happen. I don't have a TV or video games, and there's a lot of other stuff I don't do, and that's OK because I have time to do these other things I really want to do."

As they pursued the project, the two saw their bond grow.

"I think that Rhiannon and I are very complementary vocally," McLeod Lewis says. "The colors of our voices match so well, and as we've performed together over the years, we've become very in tune with each other artistically and performance-wise."

Giddens agrees, noting that McLeod Lewis' mezzo-soprano voice is the closest match to her own soprano, outside her own sister. They sometimes confuse their own voices when listening to their recordings.

"The blend we have is so rare," Giddens says. "It's so rare to find someone who wants to blend and work together to make something bigger than yourself. That's rare, and I treasure that."

The duo recently performed a concert to promote the new CD, and they hope to perform more shows soon. And though they're savoring the excitement of this first disc, they're already thinking ahead to the next, carving time out of their busy lives to make music together.

"We definitely plan to continue," McLeod Lewis says. "We've been saying we wanted to record a CD together since 2003 or 2004, so to actually have a CD in our hands is very exciting. This is just the beginning."

Contact Jennifer Bringle at [email protected]

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