Another NEW SHOW Recommendation from Jad Abumrad! Our Common Nature

Jad Abumrad introduces a new podcast called Our Common Nature, hosted by Ana Gonzalez, which follows world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma on a musical journey through the American landscape. The project grew out of a mysterious gathering Yo-Yo organized in the Smoky Mountains, which Jad attended after finishing Dolly Parton's America. “None of us knew why we were there,” Jad recalls, describing a moment when Yo-Yo and bassist Edgar Meyer walked into a wheat field to improvise and a baby bear appeared to listen. When Yo-Yo’s team later asked Jad how to make a podcast about these events, he recommended Ana, saying, “I think you need someone with a microphone on the ground who can spiritually vibe.” Ana took the assignment, traveling with Yo-Yo to West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Hawaii—where Yo-Yo played his cello into the ocean from a traditional Polynesian canoe, hoping to communicate with humpback whales as a volcano erupted and a double rainbow arched overhead.

Music as a Bridge Between People and the Natural World