Nature Sounds: DJ, music producer, and scientist Jayda G infuses environmentalism into house music
ByJacqueline Cutler
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Even in a world of hyphenates, Jayda G is a rarity of mash-ups. By moving to her own beat, she encourages anyone within listening range to move to theirs.
Jayda G, an in-demand DJ, also happens to be a biologist with a specialty in environmental toxicology. Merging her two lifelong passions, Jayda G was thrilled to DJ a global dance party on TikTok Live, following National Geographic’s Earth Day Eve 2021 virtual celebration. The event featured musicians, including Willie Nelson and Yo-Yo Ma, performing in exquisite natural settings worldwide. National Geographic Explorers Dr. Jane Goodall and Brian Skerry, among others, spoke about the need to protect our planet.
22 Apr 2021, 06:00 BST
In Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2019, Yo-Yo Ma plays a “Music in the Mangroves” concert, to help scientists and community members drive home the importance of saving threatened mangrove ecosystems.
Photograph by AUSTIN MANN
On 21 April, Yo-Yo Ma featured in a special National Geographic Earth Day Eve concert: you can re-watch the broadcast here.
On a sunlit February morning in Cape Town, Ross Frylinck waited near the doorway of a private home perched on a steep mountainside overlooking False Bay. Co-founder of the Sea Change Project, an environmental organization dedicated to preserving the kelp forest in South Africa’s coastal waters, Frylinck had gathered with a group of colleagues and musicians to welcome Yo-Yo Ma to Cape Town, one of 36 stops on the cellist’s six-continent tour known as the Bach Project.
She visited every country on Earth. Here’s what she learned.
Jessica Nabongo traveled to all 195 nations, the first Black woman to have documented this feat.
“Travel with kindness, travel with positive energy and without fear,” says Jessica Nabongo, shown in Bhutan during her successful quest to see every nation on Earth.Courtesy Jessica Nabongo
ByBrooke Sabin andNora Wallaya
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It all began in Bali. On a two-week vacation there in 2017, Jessica Nabongo was feeling adrift after a career change from corporate desk jockey to entrepreneur. Then she read an article about a traveler named Cassie De Pecol, who had just set the Guinness World Record for visiting every country on the planet in the fastest time. Nabongo realized there was a community of people like her people who long to set foot in every nation. She wanted to become the first Black woman to do it.
Photograph via National Geographic.
Willie Nelson, Angélique Kidjo, Yo-Yo Ma, and Ziggy Marley are among the performers for National Geographic’s Earth Day Eve 2021 concert, which will stream live on National Geographic’s YouTube channel at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 21. DC-born and -raised Rostam Batmanglij, who joined Haim at Call Your Mother just before Covid shut down the region, is also due to appear.
The full lineup: Kidjo, Aurora, José González, Maggie Rogers, My Morning Jacket, Rostam, Valerie June, Nelson, Ma, and Marley. Jessica Nabongo will host and introduce the concert’s audience to Nat Geo Explorers including Jane Goodall, Lucy Hawkes, and Brian Skerry, who will preview