Our Common Nature

Episode: Acadia: Yo-Yo Ma and the Wabanaki Play for the Dawn

Host: Ana González
Featuring: Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Newell, Lauren Stevens, Wayne Newell
Release Date: October 8, 2025

1. Main Theme & Purpose

This episode launches Our Common Nature, tracing cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s quest to reconnect with the natural world through music—particularly exploring how music can help all of us rediscover our belonging to nature and one another. The episode centers on an extraordinary sunrise collaboration in Maine between Yo-Yo Ma and Wabanaki (Passamaquoddy) musicians, sharing stories of resilience, culture, and hope amid landscape and loss.

2. Key Discussion Points and Insights

Yo-Yo Ma’s Yearning for Nature (00:00–03:20)

• Yo-Yo Ma’s Self-Perception:
  Ana asks if Ma considers himself an outdoorsman. He admits he is not, humorously adding he wishes he were (00:04).
• What’s Missing:
  Ma’s turn to outdoor musical experiences comes from the realization:

  “It’s what doesn’t exist in my life that I know is missing.” — Yo-Yo Ma (00:26)

Music as Connection to Nature (03:20–06:31)

• Bach’s Prelude as Metaphor:
  Yo-Yo Ma describes visualizing water’s flow to start Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1, joining in the flow of something eternal (03:28).
• The Infinite Cycle:
  Music represents the continuity of life, bridging silence and energy—a metaphor for Mar’s philosophy that human beings can overcome anything through reflection and connection.

Bridging Individual and Collective Histories (06:31–08:36)

• Ownership and Responsibility:
  Ana raises Ma’s identity as an immigrant. Ma expresses his sense of responsibility for America’s full history if he’s to be a citizen:

  “If I am a citizen, I’m responsible for all of it.” — Yo-Yo Ma (06:51)

• Common Ground:
  The series seeks answers to: What do we have in common?—highlighting that all Americans share the land and its inherent challenges and joys.

Music, Sunrise, and Indigenous Knowledge (08:36–17:58)

• Connection with the Wabanaki Sunrise Tradition:
  Chris Newell introduces the Wabanaki’s sunrise music ritual—welcoming the new day through song, reflecting a spiritual relationship to land and the universe.

  “We have a duty as Wabanaki people to welcome the sun with music.” — Chris Newell (14:12)

• Song as Resilience and Responsibility:
  Lauren Stevens, a traditional song keeper, conveys the weight and responsibility of preserving and sharing ancestral music:

  “Our ancestors held onto these traditions for thousands... To be able to hold onto some of them and to share them is a responsibility, really.” — Lauren Stevens (15:57)

• Collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma:
  During the pandemic, Yo-Yo contacts Chris and Lauren to ask how to help. Lauren responds:

  "We're already doing it... We weren't supposed to be here, but we're here." — Lauren Stevens (17:10)

  Chris suggests Ma play as the sun rises. Chris prepares a powwow melody—originally sung by a late friend, Kenny—and shares it with Ma to learn.

Meeting, Rehearsal, and Cultural Hospitality (19:22–20:22)

• First In-Person Meeting:
  At Acadia National Park, Ma meets Chris, Lauren, and Chris’s parents.

  “He actually brought a blanket...and put it on my dad.” — Chris Newell (19:44)
  Both families connect in warmth and vulnerability as Chris’s father, Wayne, is ill and receives comfort from Ma.

The Sunrise Performance (23:04–29:10)

• Dawn Ceremony:
  Just before dawn, with nature waking, the group gathers in a field. Chris frames the moment:

  “Our existence is to sing the sunrise up in the morning for us...here in the land of the dawn forever.” — Chris Newell (23:29)

• Musical Fusion:
  Lauren sings the Wabanaki welcome song, then Yo-Yo Ma joins on cello—a first for their tradition:

  “This was the first time I had ever heard our traditional music with a non-traditional instrument...it vibrated my soul.” — Lauren Stevens (24:29)

• Learning in Public:
  Ma then joins Chris on a powwow song:

  “I truly want to live my life where I’m a human being first, a musician second, and a cellist third...I’m the five year old playing with another five year old in the sandbox.” — Yo-Yo Ma (27:21)

• Transformation and Energy:
  Chris celebrates the moment:

  “It was a moment of transformation...you can transfer that energy onto people through music.” — Chris Newell (28:42)

Community Reflections & Ancestral Gratitude (29:10–32:30)

• Talking Circle:
  Afterward, performers and attendees share feelings and gratitude. Hawk Henrys expresses hope that listening to music reminds us of the songs of nature (29:21).

• Gratitude and Hope:
  Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Yo-Yo Ma, and others speak.
  Ma sums up:

  “I’m left with two words...hope and gratitude.” — Yo-Yo Ma (30:04)

• Wayne Newell’s Prayer:
  Chris’s father delivers a poignant prayer, expressing thanks for life, dreams, past and future, and especially the children:

  “We thank you for today. We thank you for the future...this gathering certainly strengthened the hope that the future will be a good one together.” — Wayne Newell (30:22)

Lasting Impact and Looking Forward (32:30–36:10)

• Sunrises Mean Gratitude:
  Ma now thinks of gratitude when he sees the sun:

  “There’s magic to it and a miracle to it.” — Yo-Yo Ma (32:16)

• Art’s Purpose:
  The episode previews future journeys across America, each designed to expand understandings of nature and community through musical encounters:

  “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.” — Yo-Yo Ma (33:08)

• Personal Connections:
  The episode is dedicated to the memory of Wayne Newell, who passed away months after the gathering. Ma sent a private tribute for Wayne’s funeral:

  “The gift of music is unreal...to have a gift from Yo-Yo for him specifically...We keep it private. You know, it’s for us.” — Chris Newell (35:29)

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It’s what doesn’t exist in my life that I know is missing.”
  — Yo-Yo Ma (00:26)

• “If I am a citizen, I am responsible for all of it.”
  — Yo-Yo Ma (06:51)

• “We have a duty as Wabanaki people to welcome the sun with music.”
  — Chris Newell (14:12)

• “Our ancestors held on to these traditions for thousands and thousands of years… it is a responsibility.”
  — Lauren Stevens (15:57)

• “It vibrated my soul.”
  — Lauren Stevens (24:29)

• “I’m the five-year-old playing with another five-year-old in the sandbox. Pow.”
  — Yo-Yo Ma (27:21)

• "This gathering certainly strengthened the hope that the future will be a good one together."
  — Wayne Newell (30:22)

• “There's magic to it and there's a miracle to it.”
  — Yo-Yo Ma, on watching the sunrise now (32:16)

4. Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 — Opening: Yo-Yo Ma on his (lack of) outdoorsmanship
• 03:28 — Yo-Yo Ma’s “flow of water” analogy for Bach
• 06:31 — Discussion of division, citizenship, and collective history
• 08:55 — Chris Newell on Wabanaki sunrise tradition
• 14:12 — Wabanaki creation story and duty to play for the dawn
• 15:57 — Lauren Stevens on song keeping
• 17:10 — Pandemic-era conversation: “We’re already doing it.”
• 19:44 — Meeting and bonding with Chris’s father
• 23:29 — Dawn ceremony in the Maine field
• 24:29 — Lauren’s reaction to cello in their song
• 27:21 — Yo-Yo Ma on human beings "playing in the sandbox"
• 30:22 — Wayne Newell’s prayer
• 32:16 — Ma on gratitude for the sun
• 33:08 — The purpose of art: enlarging our world
• 35:29 — Dedication to Wayne Newell

5. Episode Flow & Tone

The episode is reflective and warm, interweaving awe, humor, vulnerability, and respect. It conveys reverence for tradition and the reassurance of human connection amid adversity. The collaborative sunrise ceremony is treated not as spectacle, but as a moment of humility, mutual learning, and transformation—underscored by gratitude and hope.

6. Conclusion

“Acadia: Yo-Yo Ma and the Wabanaki Play for the Dawn” is a moving meditation on the power of music to foster belonging—to land, to ancestry, to each other—especially in times of division and loss. By stepping into a new musical landscape, Ma and the Wabanaki musicians model the humility and openness required to find—and create—common ground. The episode stands as an invocation for listeners to seek out their own “common nature” in every sunrise.