Our Common Nature: Mountains and Forgotten Family with Yo-Yo Ma

During this holiday break, we're sharing an episode from the podcast series Our Common Nature, produced by our friends at WYNC. 

When the world stopped in 2020, cellist Yo-Yo Ma started thinking about how music can reconnect people to the natural world, and how story and song can help us grapple with America's complicated history. Our Common Nature is a 7-episode series where Yo-Yo Ma travels around the country to make music and meet people who have deep connections to the earth. In this episode, host Ana González joins Yo-Yo in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, to tell two stories of people who are reclaiming their connections to the land.

Episode description: In the Smoky Mountains, traditions layer and intersect. Yo-Yo Ma believes that story and song can help us grapple with America’s complicated history. This episode highlights two stories of people who are reclaiming their connections to the land. The first brings us to Cherokee, North Carolina, where Lavita Hill and Mary Crowe are working to change the name of the tallest mountain in the range back to its original Cherokee name.

Then, we go to the other side of the mountains, where musician Eric Mingus meets up with some long-lost family, and grapples with the weight of his family’s history. His performance reconnects him to a lineage he never thought he’d find.

Featuring music by Eric Mingus, Rhiannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma.

“Grinds My Bones/The Mill” was composed and performed by Eric Mingus. 

Flute and vocal performance in this episode by Jarrett Wildcatt. Additional audio recording provided by Taylor MacKay.

Credits: Our Common Nature is a production of WNYC and Sound Postings 

• Hosted by Ana González
• Produced by Alan Goffinski
• With editing from Pearl Marvell 
• Sound design and episode music from Alan Goffinski
• Mixed by Joe Plourde
• Fact-checking by Ena Alvarado
• Executive Producers are Emily Botein, Ben Mandelkern, Sophie Shackleton, and Jonathan Bays
• Our advisors are Mira Burt-Wintonick, Kamaka Dias, Kelley Libbey, and Chris Newell
• Episode photo by Austin Mann
• Episode and show art by Tiffany Pai

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 Tambourine Philanthropies.

Visit the website at ourcommonnaturepodcast.org

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