Cellist Yo-Yo Ma Plays “Simple Gifts”

MAYA SOETORO, SISTER OF BARACK OBAMA: Well, I loved it. I loved the podcast, and I loved my brother’s eulogy. As I said to someone on your staff, that man can talk. But I think that if you listen to the podcast in its entirety, they begin with their stories, their individual stories, their story of coming together. And this is where we begin forging our movements and context and culture and community. This is where we need to think about peace as action-oriented and part of the everyday work to uplift one another. And we need to listen to ideas from every space, and from young and old and big and small, in order to create that change and to sustain that optimism, because we don’t have a choice. And I’m really grateful for everyone’s participation. Please know that there are so many places where you can enter the stream. Let’s do this together.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Well, on that note, in this space, we’re going to have Yo-Yo Ma play us out with a 19th century Shaker tune which everybody will know, I hope. It’s called “Simple Gifts,” and I know you feel it has particular resonance now.

YO-YO MA, CELLIST: Absolutely, because that was — that melody was included in the inaugural music that John Williams wrote for President Obama, and it’s spiritual, it’s communal, it’s invented — as in (ph) everything that we do. And ultimately it brings us into the celebration of the cycle of life. And it just starts with “Simple Gifts.”

(MUSIC)