Name: Like Humans, Nature Is Unbelievably Creative And Utterly Destructive - Yo Yo Ma
Uploaded: 2026-01-20T17:12:36.000Z
Duration: 7 min 38 s
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My next guest is an unparalleled musician and human being.

Please welcome back to the late show, the one and only.

Look at you, seven years old, bounding onto the stage like that.

You always are ready to spread joy, have joy, ready to laugh.

I'm just curious, does music, does any kind of music make you laugh?

Is there a composer who you think is funny?

It's called Our Common Nature, and it's about your quest to bring music outside.

Why is it important for you to bring the art that you do and the other musicians and bring it out into the natural world?

Well, first of all, our common nature is not just about us humans, our common nature.

It's our common nature because we are part of nature.

Too often we divorce ourselves from that.

And so if we agree that we were part of nature, then we see nature as something that is so awesome, unbelievably creative, but

Okay, I want to ask what is happening in this photo right here, please.

I have shorts on, you know, there's you, Chris.

And I'm playing a carbon fiber cello so the humidity doesn't get trouble.

The cello has a mic attached to it and it goes into the water because I've been listening to the sounds of whales.

many of the people that I was with came and these folk have been sailing around the Pacific Ocean without instruments, just looking at waves and the stars.

And they have been sailing because it's an ancient technique that they have actually figured out and passed on.

And so but whales was our common interest and we were looking for the sounds and the songs that the whales have.

They communicate over hundreds, thousands of miles and they always know where they're Going.

And one of the things that was attractive to me is that their songs are very much within the range of the cello.

And I'm going to keep doing that and work with other people who are actually figuring out much smarter than me, who are actually.

Did you actually ever get into a duo with a whale yet?

Okay, let's listen to a little bit right now.

You don't know what you're saying to him.

It could be coming on to somebody who's already in a relationship, shall we say?

Back when you turned 60, back when you turned 60, you mentioned in an interview that you've been asking yourself, quote, what is music for?

And I'm curious, 10 years later, have you come up with any new answers?

First of all, I think music is energy, period.

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Like Humans, Nature Is Unbelievably Creative And Utterly Destructive - Yo Yo Ma

awesome

figure

enormous

technique