ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
For the famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma, it took those early days of the pandemic, when a lot of folks were trapped in their homes or apartments, to really start thinking about reconnecting with the outdoors.
YO-YO MA: I grew up in cities - you know, concrete. But you know what? The older I get, the more I'm attracted to places where there are more trees than people. And the more I understand things, I realize that we're actually part of nature.
LIMBONG: So he stepped out of the concert hall and teamed up with host Ana Gonzalez to travel the country and make music in nature with people who have deep connections to the Earth. The result is a limited podcast series called "Our Common Nature," with WNYC and Sound Postings. Yo-Yo Ma and Ana Gonzalez spoke with my colleague, Scott Detrow, about their new podcast, and they started with an excerpt from their first episode in Maine's Acadia National Park during a sunrise performance with Wabanaki musicians.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "OUR COMMON NATURE")
LAUREN STEVENS: (Chanting in non-English language).
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.
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in non-English language).
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
STEVENS: This was the first time I had ever heard our traditional music with a nontraditional 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.
(SOUNDBITE OF CELLO MUSIC)
SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE: First, Ana, can you describe what was happening in that scene?
ANA GONZALEZ, BYLINE: Sure. Yeah. That was one of the first pieces that you're hearing from this sunrise performance, and that was the - it was the summer of 2021. It was, you know, right as dawn was breaking. And the woman you're hearing, her name is Lauren Stevens. She's a Wabanaki singer, and she is describing performing this traditional song that she had grown up singing that meant a lot. It meant a lot about inclusion and bringing people together.
And, you know, this is not a traditional ceremony because those aren't allowed to be recorded, but this was kind of a way for the musicians like Lauren Stevens and Chris Newell, who's playing the drum in that recording, to give Yo-Yo and other people who were present just a taste of what it means to welcome the sun with music, how music can be a vehicle for both connecting people to each other but also the natural occurrences that are happening all around us.
MA: Scott, I have to say something - that, you know, we all spend so much time looking for purpose and meaning...
DETROW: Yeah.
MA: ...And to find a group of people that it's so obvious what meaning is to them, and to be welcomed into their community, into their circle of trust and - after, you know, rising up at dawn, which is kind of a little daunting sometimes, you know? But all of us - we sat in a circle and everybody - it's like a Quaker ceremony. You know, people just would speak and speak their thought. And - you know, and it's a wide circle of people - scientists, Native people, community members. The governor was there. Deb Haaland was there - the secretary of the interior at that time - our first Native secretary of the interior. And to have that kind of conversation, it's a world opening, and it just gives you a different perspective on life.
DETROW: When you're invited into an intimate setting like that, I feel like it can go two ways. You can feel self-conscious and questioning about whether you should really be there or whether you really belong there. Or you can embrace it and feel that welcome, you know, invite and fully participate. And I imagine the playing of music is a powerful draw to the latter option. Is that right?
MA: Absolutely. I think - well - and working with Ana is remarkable because she is both present and stealth. I mean, you know, you don't notice it, and she's recording...
DETROW: (Laughter).
MA: ...Absolutely everything, which is a remarkable...
GONZALEZ: With permission. With permission.
DETROW: That's good (laughter).
GONZALEZ: Yes.
MA: Absolutely, with permission. But the thing is I - we have - the most important thing in the world is trust. And if someone trusts you, they're willing to guide you into their world. And there are no hidden agendas. I'm not looking to take something from people. I'm not looking, you know, to gain. We're actually curious, and we wanted to show appreciation and to learn. And if that's your attitude, I think most often, people will say, good, I'll show you what we have, you know? And one thing I've learned working in culture is that in culture, you never break a relationship. Once you form a relationship, it's forever.
DETROW: What do you think about that, Ana? I mean, I think this podcast is about connection in a moment where it feels harder and harder and at times impossible, but you're...
GONZALEZ: Yeah.
LIMBONG: ...Able to find it through this combination of factors.
GONZALEZ: I mean, like Yo-Yo said, music really helps. And coming in with, like, this openness, this curiosity of - this truth of, like, we are different. We have different experiences. I know that. I have no idea what your experience is, and I am here for the sole purpose of learning about them if you want to tell me about them. So it was a real exercise for me as a journalist to be like, I'm just, you know, here to learn and bring out the humanity and who they are and get the laughs, get the music, get the big emotions and figure out what makes them that three-dimensional person, who everybody is.
DETROW: Yeah. Yo-Yo, I'm wondering, you know, as you're traveling in all of these different outdoor environments, you know, I'm wondering if you ever thought, like, man, I wish I played the flute instead of the cello, dragging (laughter) the cello around all these places.
MA: Oh, that's funny. You know what? I don't feel like I - well, maybe sometimes a fantasy I should play an instrument that fits in my pocket.
DETROW: (Laughter).
MA: But what I do realize more and more is that this kind of search to try to understand is actually what fuels my music. So a lot of people say - you know, ask, you know, what are you thinking about? What, you know - are you trying to achieve perfection, excellence? It just - no, I use technique to try and be able to report accurately my witnessing of something that is meaningful. And in that sense, I think Ana and I have the same goals.
DETROW: Yeah.
MA: You know, we are reporters on, in a way, the human condition as we exist in nature.
DETROW: That's cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as well as producer Ana Gonzalez. The new podcast, "Our Common Nature," is out now. Thank you so much for talking to us about this.
GONZALEZ: Thanks, Scott.
MA: It's great to talk with you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEIJI OZAWA, ET AL.'S "HUMORESQUE NO. 7 IN G-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 101")
LIMBONG: "Our Common Nature" is available wherever you get your podcasts.
(SOUNDBITE OF SEIJI OZAWA, ET AL.'S "HUMORESQUE NO. 7 IN G-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 101") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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