Our Common Nature

Host Ana González is back to thank you all for sharing your amazing photos from our Common Nature! She is also sharing an episode from The Broadside Show from our friends at WUNC about the hunt for a long-lost musical masterpiece. Perhaps more than any other art form, the 20th century was shaped by jazz. And piano player and composer Mary Lou Williams was there at nearly every turn. In recent years, historians have documented and dissected her career and its big impact on American music. But the final chapter of her life—spent teaching at Duke University—was shrouded in mystery. Until now.Link to original episode here (WUNC) Transcript here Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcastsYo-Yo Ma wants to know: what place do you love most? What reminds you that you are part of the Earth? Snap a photo of your favorite place on the planet and share it on social with the tag #ourcommonnatureVisit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org

Yo-Yo Ma has wanted to use his cello to communicate with whales for half his life. And, in Hawai’i he got a chance. With help from the Polyneisan Voyaging Society and hula master Snowbird Bento, Yo-Yo learns about the ancient art of Hawaiian chant, what one local singer describes to him as their “contribution to the orchestra of the world.” Then Ana and Yo-Yo board a legendary canoe, Hōkūleʻa, with local fishermen, seafaring captains, and marine biologists. The musicians play cello for whales through the hull of the ship, all in the red glow of volcano Mauna Loa’s active eruption. Featuring music by Yo-Yo Ma and Snowbird BentoListen to the Our Common Nature EPCredits: Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings Hosted by Ana GonzálezProduced by Alan GoffinskiEditing from Pearl MarvellSound design and episode music by Alan GoffinskiMixed  by Joe PlourdeFact-checking by Ena AlvaradoExecutive Producers are Emily Botein, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton, and Jonathan Bays.Our advisors are Mira Burt-Wintonick, Kamaka Dias, Kelley Libbey, and Chris NewellEpisode photo by Austin Mann; Episode and show art by Tiffany Pai Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcastsYo-Yo Ma wants to know: what place do you love most? What reminds you that you are part of the Earth? Snap a photo of your favorite place on the planet and share it on social with the tag #ourcommonnatureVisit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org

On the island of Molokaʻi in Hawaii, we trace the spiritual power of mana, from a sacred grove to the Kalaupapa colony, where music, story, and Yo-Yo Ma’s performance honor the resilience and memory of those who came before.Perched on a plateau on the southeast side of the island of Molokaʻi sits a grove of kukui trees. Mikiʻala Pescaia tells us that beneath the roots of these trees are the bones of Hawaiian spiritual leader Lanikaula. It holds his energy and power, his mana, a key concept in Hawaiian culture. On the north side of the same island, on a rugged peninsula called Kalaupapa, we explore the mana left behind by another history. It’s the site of a government-mandated colony for people who contracted Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy. Historian Anwei Law tells us the story of Bernard Punikaiʻa, who came to Kalaupapa as a boy with a disease and created a life of music and community within the bounds of the colony. We reflect on how to memorialize the residents of Kalaupapa as the last remaining living residents listen to Yo-Yo play in one of the peninsula's many cemeteries. Featuring music by Yo-Yo Ma and Bernard PunikaʻiaWatch a video of Bernard performing “Where Birds Never Fly”Listen to the Our Common Nature EPCredits: Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings Hosted by Ana GonzálezProduced by Alan GoffinskiEditing from Pearl MarvellSound design and episode music by Alan GoffinskiMixed  by Joe PlourdeFact-checking by Ena AlvaradoExecutive Producers are Emily Botein, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton, and Jonathan Bays.Our advisors are Mira Burt-Wintonick, Kamaka Dias, Kelley Libbey, and Chris NewellEpisode photo by Austin Mann; Episode and show art by Tiffany Pai Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcastsYo-Yo Ma wants to know: what place do you love most? What reminds you that you are part of the Earth? Snap a photo of your favorite place on the planet and share it on social with the tag #ourcommonnatureVisit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org

West Virginia is defined by its beauty and its coal, two things that can work against each other. Yo-Yo Ma felt this as soon as stepped foot in its hills.This episode explores how music and poetry help process the emotions of a community besieged with disaster and held together by pride and duty. We travel down the Coal River with third-generation coal miner Chris Saunders, who tells us how coal has saved and threatened his life. Poet Crystal Good shares her poetry, which channels her rage and love. And musician and granddaughter of West Virginia coal miners, Kathy Mattea, explains the beauty of belting out your home state in a chorus. The end of the episode finds host Ana floating down the New River with help from a group of high schoolers and Yo-Yo Ma. Featuring music by Yo-Yo Ma, Dom Flemons, and Kathy Mattea and poetry by Crystal Good. Listen to the Our Common Nature EP. Credits: Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings Hosted by Ana GonzálezProduced by Alan GoffinskiEditing Pearl MarvellSound design and episode music by Alan GoffinskiMixed  by Joe PlourdeFact-checking by Ena AlvaradoExecutive Producers :  Emily Botein, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton, and Jonathan Bays.Our advisors are Mira Burt-Wintonick, Kamaka Dias, Kelley Libbey, and Chris NewellEpisode photo by Austin Mann; Episode and show art by Tiffany PaiThis 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 Tambourine Philanthropies Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcastsYo-Yo Ma wants to know: what place do you love most? What reminds you that you are part of the Earth? Snap a photo of your favorite place on the planet and share it on social with the tag #ourcommonnatureVisit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org

This episode begins in Fairbanks, AK.  Yo-Yo Ma is at a house concert with drag queen environmentalist Pattie Gonia, singer/songwriter Quinn Christopherson and Princess Daazhraii Johnson, a writer and filmmaker from the Gwich’in Nation.  They were all performing to help their communities process the negative effects of climate change in Alaska.  Salmon have been disappearing for decades, but now there are laws preventing fishing along the Yukon River, an ancestral practice for many Alaska Native people.  Host Ana travels up to the 2024 Gwich’in Gathering in Circle, Alaska to learn how the Gwich’in nation uses its centuries-old tools of music and discussion to speak with one voice and  bring back the salmon.Featuring music by Yo-Yo Ma, Quinn Christopherson and Pattie Gonia, poetry by Princess Johnson, and traditional music by members of the Gwich’in Nation.Watch Pattie Gonia performing "Won't Give Up" featuring Yo-Yo Ma and Quinn Christopherson (video) Watch Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach in a birch forest damaged by melting permafrost on Lower Tanana Dene lands near Fairbanks, AlaskaListen to the Our Common Nature EP.Credits: Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings Hosted by Ana GonzálezProduced by Alan GoffinskiWith editing from Pearl MarvellSound design and episode music by Alan GoffinskiMixed  by Joe PlourdeFact-checking by Ena AlvaradoExecutive Producers are Emily Botein, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton, and Jonathan Bays.Our advisors are Mira Burt-Wintonick, Kamaka Dias, Kelley Libbey, and Chris NewellEpisode photo by Austin Mann; Episode and show art by Tiffany PaiThis 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 Tambourine Philanthropies Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings.Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcastsYo-Yo Ma wants to know: what place do you love most? What reminds you that you are part of the Earth? Snap a photo of your favorite place on the planet and share it on social with the tag #ourcommonnatureVisit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org