Another NEW SHOW Recommendation from Jad Abumrad! Our Common Nature

Summary

Dolly Parton’s America: "Another NEW SHOW Recommendation from Jad Abumrad! Our Common Nature"

Podcast: Dolly Parton’s America
Host: Jad Abumrad
Episode: Another NEW SHOW Recommendation from Jad Abumrad! Our Common Nature
Date: October 22, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Jad Abumrad introduces listeners to the new podcast "Our Common Nature: A Musical Journey with Yo-Yo Ma and Ana Gonzalez." The episode explores the show's purpose—reconnecting people with nature and to each other through music, storytelling, and shared experience. It combines personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes moments, and deep dives into the stories of Native American communities, focusing on land, tradition, and the transformative power of art.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of "Our Common Nature"

• Jad Abumrad recounts his first encounter with Yo-Yo Ma’s unique gatherings in the Smoky Mountains, describing magical moments where music, art, and nature intersected (01:01).
• Ana Gonzalez, chosen to host the new podcast, explains how she got involved:

  "They asked you how to make a podcast out of this? And you were like, 'I don't know, but I think you need someone with a microphone on the ground who can spiritually vibe.'” (02:51)

• Jad highlights the central idea: the podcast is about finding reconnection with nature through art, music, and extraordinary encounters (04:10).

2. Yo-Yo Ma’s Vision and Purpose

• Gonalez describes traveling across the country with Yo-Yo Ma’s team, from West Virginia to Kentucky caves, the Smoky Mountains, and even Hawaii—where Yo-Yo played cello to communicate with whales (04:10–05:22).
• In Hawaii, on the "Hokulea," Yo-Yo Ma and local chanters play and sing, blending traditional language, prayers, and cello music directed at ocean life. Ana recounts:

  “A double rainbow started arching over the water. And then Mauna Loa, the volcano was erupting at the same time, right? Like, over the bay.” (04:55)

• Yo-Yo’s quest—breaking down barriers between the human and natural world—mirrors the broader mission of the podcast.

3. Artistic Collaboration as Transformation

• The episode underscores Yo-Yo Ma’s belief that art should expand our capacity for empathy and curiosity:

  "That's the purpose of art, is to expand your world. Because when you live a more expansive life, you are more empathetic, you are more curious, because you know that there's so much more to find out." (05:42)

• The series follows Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach everywhere—from concert halls to streams, city rooftops, and out in nature, including a memorable sunrise performance with Wabanaki musicians.

4. Musical Sunrise on Passamaquoddy Land: Deep Cultural Significance

• Chris Newell and Lauren Stevens, members of the Wabanaki people, share their tradition of using music to greet the sunrise—a practice that is both spiritual and communal (18:23–19:23).
• Chris Newell explains:

  "We have a duty as Wabanaki people to welcome the sun with music." (20:15)

• Music is a bridge between cultures and generations; Lauren Stevens, as a song keeper, carries on the traditions taught by elders (22:01–22:35).

5. Yo-Yo Ma Learns and Collaborates

• Yo-Yo Ma visits Acadia National Park, learning powwow music and collaborating on a sunrise performance with local musicians. Chris shares:

  “It would be beautiful to see my brother’s song this way. And that’s how it ended up happening.” (25:17)

• The sunrise concert, a moving piece of cultural exchange, combines the cello, powwow rhythms, and Wabanaki singing as the day breaks—a living metaphor for interconnection and hope (29:26–30:28).

6. Reflection on Identity, Division, and Responsibility

• Yo-Yo Ma reflects on American identity as an immigrant:

  “If I am a citizen, I'm responsible for all of it.” (13:57–14:21)

• The episode meditates on what brings people together despite history and division:

  "A good place to start mending our relationships to each other is by asking, what do we have in common?" (14:27–14:31)

7. The Circle and Lasting Impact

• After the sunrise performance, a “talking circle” brings everyone together to reflect.
• Hawk Henrys, a Nipmuc flautist, shares:

  "We remind ourselves of the songs of bird and insect and tree and water. And those songs bring us joy... and they have the capability of allowing us to see the common thread that weaves its way through all of us.” (34:18–34:39)

• Wayne Newell, Chris’s father, offers a heartfelt prayer for gratitude, shared pasts, and hope for the future (35:19).

8. Legacy and Dedication

• The episode closes by honoring Wayne Newell, who passed away after the recording, and describes the lasting, private musical gift Yo-Yo Ma created for the family (40:27–40:53).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Jad Abumrad:

  “Weirdly magical and confusing. Anyhow, later they called me up. They were like, we want to make a podcast about these events we're doing. Who do you know that can work on it? I immediately thought of Ana.” (01:41)

• Yo-Yo Ma:

  “I play Bach Chill Suite number one because it's the closest piece of music I play that reminds me of the infinitude of life.” (09:03)
  “If I am a citizen, I'm responsible for all of it.” (14:21)
  “I think the purpose of our common nature, if I've learned anything, is to reinforce the fact that we are part of nature.” (15:19)

• Chris Newell:

  "We have a duty as Wabanaki people to welcome the sun with music." (20:15)

• Ana Gonzalez:

  "It's been truly, like, a singular life changing experience." (05:36)
  “We're living on this land. We have to learn how to live on it and amongst each other, despite division disconnect, a really tough history, and an uncertain future.” (14:31)

• Lauren Stevens:

  "To hear the welcome song played by yo yo on the cello, it resonated internally, like I could feel it in my body. It vibrated my soul." (29:26)

• Hawk Henrys:

  “As we listen to the sound of our songs... we remind ourselves of the songs of bird and insect and tree and water... the common thread that weaves its way through all of us.” (34:18–34:39)

• Wayne Newell:

  “Let us hope that we can teach [our children] well. We thank you for all that is past. Regardless of how that past was, it is a past. We thank you for today. We thank you for the future. None of us have an idea what that will be, but this gathering certainly strengthened to the hope that the future will be a good one.” (35:19–36:59)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:01 — Jad introduces "Our Common Nature" and the Yo-Yo Ma connection.
• 04:10 — The idea and magic of gathering around Yo-Yo Ma.
• 05:42 — Art as a tool for empathy and curiosity.
• 09:03 — Yo-Yo Ma on why he plays Bach.
• 13:57–14:21 — Yo-Yo’s reflection on responsibility as an American citizen.
• 15:19 — The purpose of "Our Common Nature" according to Yo-Yo Ma.
• 18:23–19:23 — Chris Newell and the tradition of singing to the sunrise.
• 20:15 — The duty to welcome the sun with music.
• 29:26 — Lauren Stevens on the emotional power of music.
• 34:18–34:39 — Hawk Henrys on music as a common thread.
• 35:19 — Wayne Newell's blessing and prayer.
• 40:27–40:53 — Closing tribute to Wayne Newell.

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Tone & Style

This episode exudes warmth, reverence, curiosity, and humility. The hosts and guests speak with passion about culture, art, land, and relationships. Musical moments and personal stories create a textured, moving narrative.

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Summary Flow

• Introduction of the “Our Common Nature” podcast and journey.
• The role of music and art in healing, learning, and connecting.
• Profound encounters between Yo-Yo Ma and Native American communities.
• The power of collaborative performance at sunrise.
• Reflections on responsibility, legacy, and gratitude.
• A closing dedication to those who carry traditions and pass them on.

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For listeners and non-listeners alike, this episode offers both an invitation and a roadmap for how music, storytelling, and a return to shared experiences with land and one another can serve as a balm in divided times—and a source of enduring hope.

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Listen to "Our Common Nature: A Musical Journey with Yo-Yo Ma and Ana Gonzalez" everywhere you get your podcasts.

Transcript

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[Jad Abumrad]

Hey everybody, it's me, Jad again. After you're done binging, my new project about Fela Kuti. And by the way, that series is in a different feed, so search for Fela Kuti. Fear no man in Apple or Spotify or wherever you do your podcast. There seems to have been some confusion about that. Anyhow, after you're done binging that, I have one more thing for you to listen to. It's a new show called Our Common Nature and it is about reconnecting to nature and to the natural world, using music and the arts. And it's also about world famous cellist Yo Yo Ma. Kind of yo yo and the Yo Yo Experience. That's where that should be called is.

[Ana Gonzalez]

The Yo Yo Experience or the Yo Yo Universe.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yo Yo. Yo Yo Yo. Like Yu Universe. Yo Universe. Yeah. That voice you just heard, that is Ana Gonzalez. She is the host of this new show that I want to tell you about. I called up Anna because I actually have a a connection to this show that she's making. After we had finished Dolly Parton's America and you know, we had spent years thinking about the Smoky Mountains in Appalachia, I get a call from Yo Yo Ma about a mysterious gathering that he was organizing in the Smoky Mountains. I was like, I don't know what this is, but I'm definitely gonna go, my God, who would say no to that? So we're there on the side of a mountain. There are all these incredible people. We're having amazing conversations. None of us knew why we were there. I remember one moment and yo yo and bassist Edgar Meyer, this incredible composer, they walk out into a wheat Field just start improvising in, like, waist high wheat. And then suddenly a little baby bear shows up in the background and starts listening to them. Like it was that kind of gathering. Weirdly magical and confusing. Anyhow, later they called me up. They were like, we want to make a podcast about these events we're doing. Who do you know that can work on it? I immediately thought of Ana.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Well, I remember it exactly like that, except one phrase that has stuck with me the whole time. They asked you how to make a podcast out of this? And you were like, I don't know, but I think you need someone with a microphone on the ground who can spiritually vibe.

[Jad Abumrad]

Yes, yes, I remember that.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And you were like. And I think that might be you. And I was like, this is the craziest phone call of my life. Okay. So then the first thing that happened after that was I went to West Virginia with them. They were like, just come. Come to West Virginia. Meet Yo Yo. Bring your microphone.

[Yo Yo Ma]

And I think one of the things that all of us here treasure, creating memories.

[Ana Gonzalez]

From there, I just kept traveling with yo yo and his team. We went to Kentucky, down into a very, very long, huge cave with the Louisville Orchestra. It's colder here. Steady 55. Yeah. Then we went to North Carolina, drove over the Smoky Mountains into Tennessee, and we went to Hawaii.

[Jad Abumrad]

You went to Hawaii, too?

[Ana Gonzalez]

For this.

[Jad Abumrad]

Holy moly land.

[Chris Newell]

Out of the water.

[Jad Abumrad]

All right, just.

[Ana Gonzalez]

So yo yo wanted to talk to the whales. He wanted to communicate with his cello to humpback whales. So in Hawaii, we boarded a traditional Polynesian vessel, a double hulled canoe called Hokulea. We went on it with a bunch of marine biologists who used the body of Hokulea as a. Like a cello basically itself in the water to project out sounds.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Try the speaker.

[Jad Abumrad]

Whoa. So yo yo on the. On the thing with his cello playing into the boat, into the water to the whales.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yeah. And they brought on chanters, like. And we get into this in the episode of like what chanting means, but basically prayers that you sing out and ask for things. So they were chanting, yo yo is playing. And before any of this happened, a double rainbow started arching over the water. And then Mauna Loa, the volcano was erupting at the same time, right? Like, over the bay.

[Jad Abumrad]

Wow. Wait, and did the whales, like, sing back?

[Ana Gonzalez]

You'll have to listen to find out.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Okay, give it.

[Ana Gonzalez]

It's been truly, like, a singular life changing experience.

[Jad Abumrad]

That's amazing.

[Ana Gonzalez]

It really just opened my eyes to how big this country is. Like, big in land. And Big in experience and types of people and ways you can live on it. It's like it expands your world. And that's the purpose of. And yo yo says this. That's the purpose of art, is to expand your world. Because when you live a more expansive life, you are more empathet, you are more curious, because you know that there's so much more to find out.

[Jad Abumrad]

You can find the new podcast, Our Common Nature A Musical Journey with Yo Yo Ma and Ana Gonzalez. Wherever you get your podcasts, there are three episodes in the feed. Now, that's not this feed, not the Dolly Parton's America feed, but their feed. And you can get more coming each week. I'm just jealous of this epic journey that you've been on.

[Ana Gonzalez]

It could have been you.

[Lauren Stevens]

I mean.

[Jad Abumrad]

No, I think it. I actually think. I don't know if I would have spiritually vibed the way that you spiritually vibed, because it sounds like you really did, and that's amazing.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

[Jad Abumrad]

And to give you a taste of what is to come, here is episode one of Our Common Nature.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Would you describe yourself as an outdoorsman?

[Yo Yo Ma]

No. No, I'd like to pretend that I am. I have many fantasies of parachuting someplace and going, you know, fly fishing or rock climbing, but I. I'm not. Is this being recorded?

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yes. Well, I want to know why are you making a podcast about being outside so much?

[Yo Yo Ma]

Oh, that's a very good question. Well, first of all, it' what doesn't exist in my life that I know is missing?

[Ana Gonzalez]

Hi, I'm Ana Gonzalez, and this is Our Common Nature A Musical Journey with Yo Yo Ma through this complicated country to help us all find that connection to nature that so many of us are missing. We climb mountains, play music, drive dirt roads, recite poetry, traverse rivers and oceans, and even our own brains, our all to figure out how to better live on our planet together.

[Yo Yo Ma]

So you think people get that?

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yes.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Really?

[Lauren Stevens]

Yeah.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Okay, let's get started. When you picture Yo Yo Ma, he's probably indoors, in a suit, maybe a tux, and he's playing a cello. He's probably playing this piece, the Prelude from bach, cello suite no. 1 in G major. He's played it everywhere. In baroque churches, mountain forests, along streams, on rooftops, in large concert halls for the BBC and a tiny desk for npr. He even played it in an episode of Arthur.

[Jad Abumrad]

This is the best thing I've ever heard.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And on a sunny spring day, you might even catch him playing this piece in a National park somewhere, right after crawling on the ground in his khakis to take a photo with a baby that named JoJo.

[Chris Newell]

Can we have a pic?

[Yo Yo Ma]

Of course. Let's do this.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Oh, that is so cute.

[Chris Newell]

Jojo.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Jojo and Yo Yo. I play Bach Chill Suite number one because it's the closest piece of music I play that reminds me of the infinitude of life.

[Ana Gonzalez]

It's also one of the first pieces of music he ever learned when he was a little kid, and now he's just celebrated his 70th birthday. Part of the yo yo secret sauce is that he can make the leap from Bach to infinity. But what about the rest of us who aren't, you know, Yo Yo Ma and who have maybe never played Bach and aren't really sure that they're even pronouncing the name correctly? Well, I've spent the last few years trying to figure that out. Over the next seven episodes, I will be traveling across these United States with Yo yo leading the way as he plays music under the stars and deep down in caves. We're going to explore the unbreakable connection between the art and the stories that people create in the places that they're from, from Appalachia to Hawaii to today on the coast of Maine. But before we get to that, back to yo yo and that piece.

[Lauren Stevens]

What.

[Ana Gonzalez]

About this piece connects yo yo to nature? Well, it goes back way back.

[Yo Yo Ma]

I used to get into trouble. I used to think it's really hard to start this flowy kind of thing because I'm starting from nothing, right? So it's like jump starting a car. But what made it work for me is when I started thinking of an image of seeing the flow of water, and I join it. The peace has started long before I'm joining it. I use the energy of that flow that's happened before. Do do do do do do has been happening forever. I'm welcomed into the flow.

[Ana Gonzalez]

If you could zoom into Yo Yo's brain when he plays this piece, you'd see images appearing. First the water, and then that transforms. You start to see flying things, birds flying through sunbeams. You look in the ground, you see roots and soil.

[Yo Yo Ma]

You go underwater.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Whales and coral reefs bubbling through notes that are more than 300 years old. It was clear when I started talking to yo yo that he uses nature to connect to music, and then he uses music to connect right back to.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Nature, you know, the infinitude of life.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And about two thirds of the way through the piece, all the music just stops.

[Yo Yo Ma]

We don't like silence. And then it starts again, but differently. Oh, it starts to build up. It keeps going, becomes more insistent. The music gathers more and more energy. Where are we going? And finally, we hit almost the beginning, but a different version of the beginning. At a higher octave, it's higher energy. And the piece ends. What could all this mean?

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yo yo has spent practically his entire life thinking about this piece, about the power it contains. He's traveled the world playing it, sparking conversations on borders and deserts and ruins and rivers, all because, for him, this piece represents how human beings have the ability to overcome anything if they just take a step back. And this is especially important today, when there seems to be more loud, conflicting opinions than ever before, with people kind of stuck in their own extreme bubbles.

[Yo Yo Ma]

We always had division, but family comes together when there's an emergency.

[Ana Gonzalez]

I notice you're saying we like we as Americans, even though, you know, you were born in a different country and you immigrated here. Do you feel like you're an outsider to that division, or are you a part of it?

[Yo Yo Ma]

Well, you know, really, it depends how you think of it. I arrived as an immigrant in 1962. So do I just own part of the country starting from 1962? Am I responsible for slavery, for the removal of native Americans? I think I am. Because if I am a citizen, I'm responsible for all of it.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And so a good place to start mending our relationships to each other is.

[Yo Yo Ma]

By asking, what do we have in common?

[Ana Gonzalez]

Big question, right? Let's just take the United States. If you zoom out. Everybody who lives here on this land has one thing in common. We're living on this land. We have to learn how to live on it and amongst each other, despite division disconnect, a really tough history, and an uncertain future. So the thing that yo yo does best, the thing he's most famous for, is connecting people through music. And now he wants to take that out into nature. He's dropping the endpin of his cello straight into the dirt, and he's inviting all of us to listen and help fold our lives back into nature, back to each other.

[Yo Yo Ma]

I think the purpose of our common nature, if I've learned anything, is to reinforce the fact that we are part of nature. And if we acknowledge that, it means that whatever we do with or to nature allows us to live to survive.

[Ana Gonzalez]

So let's back up. Where do we even start? Well, yo yo started this musical road trip where everything begins with a new day. How can playing music connect us to a sunrise?

[Yo Yo Ma]

Oh, so this would be A really quick question. Well, both are forms of energy. One that actually allows for our ecosystem to exist and the other is a system that we've developed that puts us in the necessary state of mind to function. You don't play a lullaby when you want an army to go march into war. You don't do a drum set and loud percussion when you want a baby to sleep. It's something that we've invented and every culture has its own, own version of what works.

[Chris Newell]

One of the things that we're supposed to be doing is as the sun, that first beam of light when it finally peeks over the horizon, that's when we're supposed to be singing to welcome the sun. And that changes everything.

[Ana Gonzalez]

That's Chris Newell and he's going to teach yo yo how to play for the dawn after the break.

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[Ana Gonzalez]

Our common nature is back. I'm your host, Ana Gonzalez and we're on the coast of Maine where there's a group of people who have a long standing cultural tradition of using music to bring the sunrise each day.

[Chris Newell]

And those were sacred times, especially as a young man. You know, the easiest thing to do was to just stay up all night, five o', clock, you know, just easy. Just stay up at the fire and sing and have a good time and welcome the sun. It's an amazing thing to experience that and feel that force of creation, you know, that's really what it is. It's the closest thing I can say or one of the ways that I connect with our creator. We don't imagine it as a singular person that's all powerful. It's rather more, you know, all of the forces of nature and a way to experience that is to experience in a sunrise.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Chris Newell grew up in northern Maine.

[Chris Newell]

I am a Passamaquoddy citizen, born and raised in the community of Madoc, which is known on English maps as Indian township, Maine.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Passamaquoddy is one of the five Wabanaki nations that encompasses parts of present day New England and Canada. Chris is an educator now, but he made most of his career touring different powwows as a singer and a drummer, a practice he learned from his his dad.

[Chris Newell]

My dad used to sing all the time, and one of the things my father did was preserve our language. So I was blessed to grow up with him always imbuing that in me.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yo yo came to Chris because celebrating sunrises is a crucial part of his tribe's spirituality and creation story.

[Chris Newell]

We have the belief in a cultural hero named Glooskap. They fired arrows into the ash trees, and from the ash tree came the first men and women, who he called Luavenaki, which is the people of the dawn. Gluskap said, we have a duty as Wabanaki people to welcome the sun with music.

[Ana Gonzalez]

How would you describe that? First, the dawn. What does it look like? What does it feel like?

[Chris Newell]

You know, it can get quiet at nighttime, but then you start to hear the bird life, and everything start to rise just before. And then the colors, that first beat, when it finally peeks over the horizon, that's when we're supposed to be singing to welcome the sun. Those first beams, as they come upon us, and that changes everything. As soon as that first beam comes, it becomes so much brighter, the colors become so much more vibrant, and life kind of restarts.

[Lauren Stevens]

My name is Lauren Stevens. I'm pastor Mukwadi from Madagmigo.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Lauren is the voice you hear singing.

[Lauren Stevens]

When I sing, it's almost like I feel the power of those songs, and they just come out. People make mention of, oh, that's so beautiful. And I'm like, yes, because that's our ancestors. Our ancestors held onto these traditions for thousands and thousands of years, despite not being recorded and despite not being able to practice them. So to be able to hold onto some of them and to be able to share them is a responsibility, really.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Lauren is what she calls a traditional song keeper. She was given that role by her elders, who invited her to sing at gatherings.

[Lauren Stevens]

Chris's dad, you know, he. Every time he saw me, he acknowledged me by name, and he'd say, hey, does, come here. And he'd usually have me sing.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Lauren and Chris grew up together and still play music together. And one day, in the middle of the pandemic, when native reservations like the one that they grew up on were Getting hit hardest by Covid. They got a call from Yo Yo.

[Lauren Stevens]

And I remember yo yo asking, you know, how can I help? What can we do? And I remember saying, we're already doing it. That visibility factor of indigenous people when we were supposed to be eradicated, ultimately, we weren't supposed to be here, but we're here to be able to collaborate, to be able to share our culture in a space that was very visible.

[Chris Newell]

My suggestion was for him to experience playing his music as the sun rose.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And so the plan was hatched. Yo yo would drive from his home in Massachusetts up the coast of New England, meet Chris and Lauren, and learn a new way of experiencing this land through music. Which meant learning a new way of playing.

[Chris Newell]

Powwow Music is so different from Western classical music. You really gotta be immersed in it to get it down. The drumbeat for a powwow song, a straight powwow song is, you know, kind of a. A straight beat like that. But the song, the melody that we're singing over it is composed in triple or sometimes beats of five. If you're somebody that's used to, you know, snapping your fingers on the downbeat, this is left footed as heck, you know, it really is.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Chris started looking through old tapes of powwow performances that he'd done. And he found this recording of his old bandmate Kenny singing an original piece.

[Chris Newell]

I listening to him sing it, and I was like, you know, that melody, the way he's singing it, I bet you could pull that off on a cello. I actually created kind of a how to video. I felt silly doing it. I was like, man, I'm making this for Yo Yo Ma. And I was like, I don't know if he'll actually go for it. But then when we met to rehearse, he asked me the story. And I told him Kenny was a.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Good friend, like a brother to Chris who died a few years ago.

[Chris Newell]

It would be beautiful to see my brother's song this way. And that's how it ended up happening. All right, we're here. We're here, boss.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Tell us what to do.

[Chris Newell]

So, yeah.

[Ana Gonzalez]

So yo yo arrived at Acadia national park on a June night in 2021. He met Chris in person for the first time, who was there with his parents.

[Yo Yo Ma]

I'll never forget that. I met Chris's father, and he was cold, and I was able to just have some words with him.

[Chris Newell]

Cause it was a little chilly where we were rehearsing. He actually brought a blanket from his room and put it on my dad. That's how they met each other, which.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Was so comforting to talk to such a beloved elder.

[Chris Newell]

And my father at the time was nine years into being treated for multiple.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Myeloma, a rare blood cancer.

[Chris Newell]

His body was in kind of rough shape. But when they met, it was like two human beings that really saw the humanity in each other. It was like two old buddies that came together after the dinner. They sat and talked and talked and talked, just having the greatest time.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And everybody went to sleep that night, not exactly knowing how the morning would go if yo yo would be able to pull off an entirely new musical style with folks that he just met that night. But they set their alarms extremely early. And after the break, we'll hear what happens at sunrise. Our common nature is back, and we are on the coast of Maine just before dawn, walking out into a field.

[Lauren Stevens]

I remember that morning. It was, like, kind of cold.

[Ana Gonzalez]

That's Lauren Stevens again.

[Lauren Stevens]

There were a lot of bugs. They were happy, I'm sure, because they were getting fed. And while the ocean is very much present and close, it felt secluded, like we just had our own little bubble right there.

[Chris Newell]

Willie Spuzz will Good morning, everybody. As part of Wabanaki people, our existence is to sing the sunrise up in the morning. For us, as Wabanaki people, we understand our meaning of life. We are meant to do this. We are meant to start the day. We are meant to reside in our homelands.

[Jad Abumrad]

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[Ana Gonzalez]

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[Jad Abumrad]

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[Chris Newell]

Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks.

[Jad Abumrad]

And of Apple, Inc. Registered in the US and other countries.

[State Farm Announcer]

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[Chris Newell]

There here in Jaguarnak. YG in the land of the dawn Forever.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Chris and Lauren are standing in the middle of a field with a few other performers. Another singer, a storyteller, a flautist. Audience members surround them in folding chairs. Beams of light begin to pull over the trees.

[Lauren Stevens]

I knew it was important to perform the welcome song. That song is important for every time we gather or every time there were visiting tribes, as that welcome, as that kind of starting point. This was the first time I had ever heard our traditional music with a non traditional instrument. And to hear the welcome song played by yo yo on the cello, it resonated internally, like I could feel it in my body. It vibrated my soul.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Chris and Lauren walked to the side and left yo yo to play by himself. He continued playing through the rest of the Bach cello suite, movement after movement, something he's so used to doing. But then Chris joined him on the drum. And then they began to play that powwow song that Kenny recorded into Chris's cassette player. More than 20 years ago. That was like a really vulnerable thing that you did as Yo Yo Ma, to be like learning music in front of people, people. Did it feel that way to you?

[Yo Yo Ma]

No. Well. Well, you know what I think, right? I truly want to live my life where I'm a human being first, a musician second, and a cellist third. And what you just said involves thinking that I'm someone of note because I play the cello well, but actually I'm a human being first. So I'm the five year old playing with another five year old in the sandbox.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Hey.

[Chris Newell]

Yes. The first powwow cello.

[Ana Gonzalez]

This was not a traditional sunrise ceremony. Those aren't allowed to be recorded. But this performance was a moment of collaboration across cultures in the presence of a dawning day in the middle of a pandemic, at a time when people were so separated, it was scary to walk past each other on the sidewalks. Remember that? And here were musicians from super different places playing together, being kids in a sandbox together.

[Chris Newell]

It was a moment of transformation. You can transfer that energy onto people, you really can, through music. In my experience, that happens in the powwow world a lot. You sing just the right songs for a dancer, and they just get into it, and all of a sudden they get it. That energy comes through and everything is working right, and they nail it.

[Ana Gonzalez]

After the performance, there was a talking circle, a place for everyone in attendance to share what they thought and how they felt. Like Hawk Henrys, a flautist from the Nipmuc people who also performed.

[Yo Yo Ma]

My hope is that as we listen to the sound of Our songs that.

[Ana Gonzalez]

We remind ourselves of, the songs of.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Bird and insect and tree and water.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And those songs bring us joy.

[Yo Yo Ma]

And they have the capability of allowing.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Us to see the common thread that.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Weaves its way through all of us.

[Jad Abumrad]

Thank you to the Wabanaki people for bringing the sun to me every day of the 60 years I have been alive.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Local and national leaders spoke.

[Jad Abumrad]

Deb Haaland very honored to serve this country as the secretary of the Interior.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yo yo spoke.

[Yo Yo Ma]

So this has been extraordinary. I'm left with two words that I'm thinking a lot about, and they're hope and gratitude. A lot of you spoke of both of these words, but I think Chris's.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Dad, Wayne, managed to make his way to the performance and he offered a prayer.

[Wayne Newell]

Good morning, Tenaguach. If you can please stand. You notice I'm not. Let's get into a prayerful mood. Dear creator, we thank you for life, for another day. We thank you for our sleep. We hope that each one of us had dreams that we can work on, dreams that we can understand eventually if we don't. Dreams that we can ask other people for. We thank you for gathering here today. All of us. We thank you for our grandfathers and our grandmothers and most of all, our children. They are our future. Let us hope that we can teach them well. We thank you for all that is past. Regardless of how that past was, it is a past. We thank you for today. We thank you for the future. None of us have an idea what that will be, but this gathering certainly strengthened to the hope that that future will be a good one. Together.

[Yo Yo Ma]

It starts with caring. And because we went there, we met people, we made a relationship. You don't break it. That honor is being human.

[Ana Gonzalez]

How do you see sunrises now?

[Yo Yo Ma]

Do you know I actually think of gratitude when I see the sun. That I'm part of the solar system and that there's magic to it and there's a miracle to it.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And Yoyo is committed to making more and more of these relationships through our common nature. And that means more performances with people who have special connections to this land. From underground time capsules, finding their names.

[Yo Yo Ma]

On the cave walls, Walking in the footsteps and just feeling the power to glaciers.

[Ana Gonzalez]

And it just looks like a river frozen in time. From forests the Cherokee people have always known of this mountain to coal mines.

[Chris Newell]

This is the kiss my butt curve.

[Ana Gonzalez]

From the deck of ships in the Pacific Ocean. Feeding sharks by hand. Chanting to them. And they swim in to the coast of the Atlantic and beyond.

[Yo Yo Ma]

And the fact that with these different backgrounds, we can talk and agree on things. We are going to actually learn about what people know there because we realize, my goodness, had we not done those things, our concept of the world would be a slightly smaller and slightly poorer world. That is, for me, the purpose of art.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Next time we go to the longest cave system in the world that just so happens to be in Kentucky to hear a symphony, explore the underworld. Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings hosted by me, Ana Gonzalez. Produced by Alan Gofinski with editing from Pearl Marvel. Sound design and episode music by Alan Gofinski mixed by Joe Plord. Fact checking by Ana Alvarado. Our executive producers are Emily Bottin, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton and Jonathan Bays. Our advisors are Mira Burtwin Tonic, Kamaka Diaz, Kelly Libby and Chris Newell. Additional audio provided by the Upstander Project. They're a film, storytelling and educational company doing amazing work. They're actually the reason Chris and Yo yo even met. You can learn more about them by going to upstanderproject.org and if you want to watch the film that their Reciprocity Project team made about Yo Yo's visit to Acadia, you can find it in our show notes. Special thanks to Acadia National Park. And if you want to listen to more music from this series, you can check out the Our Common Nature EP featuring Yo yo playing with Eric Mingus, Jen Kreisberg and an Icelandic choir. Now available on all streaming platforms. This podcast was inspired by a project of the same name conceived by Yo Yo Ma and Sound Postings with creative direction by Sophie Shackleton in collaboration with partners all over the world. Our Common Nature is made possible with support from Emerson Collective and and Tambourine Philanthropies. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Wayne Newell, Chris's dad, who just a few months after we left Maine, died.

[Chris Newell]

They wrote each other and stayed in touch. Wow. And when my father passed away that December, yo yo actually sent us a tribute video studio for him, which we were able to play the audio for for his funeral. That was special. I mean, the gift of music is. Is unreal to have a gift from yo yo for him specifically, and we keep it private. You know, it's. It's for us.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Yeah.

[Chris Newell]

Yo yo was like, no, we're not sending flowers. Hold on.

[Ana Gonzalez]

You know more than that.

[Yo Yo Ma]

Yeah.

[Ana Gonzalez]

Foreign.

[State Farm Announcer]

It'S homecoming season at HBCUs, when generations of alumni come together to celebrate black culture and community. State Farm honors the strength of those communities and legacy, pride and unstoppable energy of the HBCU family. That's why State Farm agents are committed to helping you choose the coverage you need so you can protect the things that matter most. And that's something to celebrate, too. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.