By — Jeffrey Brown Jeffrey Brown By — Anne Azzi Davenport Anne Azzi Davenport By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/yo-yo-mas-musical-effort-to-share-songsofcomfort-amid-coronavirus Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Last week, the NewsHour joined master cellist Yo-Yo Ma in asking the public to join the #SongsOfComfort effort and contribute music both old and new. Chief arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown shares some of what we have received here -- moments of respite and zen in the age of coronavirus. You can post your own offering on social media platforms using the hashtag #SongsOfComfort. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Jeffrey Brown: Yo-Yo Ma began his #SongsofComfort project with a performance of his own, and an appeal to our audience. Yo-Yo Ma: We're collecting what is personal, what is true, what is trustworthy, what is community, because community is nothing, except what is based on trust. Jeffrey Brown: People of all kinds have responded, Paul Simon with his classic American tune, Hamed Sinno, lead singer of the Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila. The famed folk rock duo the Indigo Girls also answered the call.And members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra found a creative way to perform while keeping social distance.Most of all, ordinary people all around the country and the world created their own musical moments. Outside Chicago, a woman played for her neighbors, as is happening more and more.In Omaha, Nebraska, 9-year-old Annabel Blake, her father and a family friend performed a traditional Irish folk song.A man played a song for his granddaughters, wanting them, as he wrote, to feel good about themselves. And they did.Dira Sugandi was joyful in Indonesia.Two friends, one in Ireland the other in Germany, harmonized on a Beatles song. And from Copenhagen, pianist Niels Lan Doky shared jazz.Perhaps most fitting and hopeful for the times, two Mayo Clinic doctors in a video posted by a new fan.Just a few of the songs now being shared.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Mar 25, 2020 By — Jeffrey Brown Jeffrey Brown In his more than 30-year career with the News Hour, Brown has served as co-anchor, studio moderator, and field reporter on a wide range of national and international issues, with work taking him around the country and to many parts of the globe. As arts correspondent he has profiled many of the world's leading writers, musicians, actors and other artists. Among his signature works at the News Hour: a multi-year series, “Culture at Risk,” about threatened cultural heritage in the United States and abroad; the creation of the NewsHour’s online “Art Beat”; and hosting the monthly book club, “Now Read This,” a collaboration with The New York Times. By — Anne Azzi Davenport Anne Azzi Davenport Anne Azzi Davenport is the Senior Producer of CANVAS at PBS News Hour. @Annedavenport By — Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas Joshua Barajas is a senior editor for the PBS NewsHour's Communities Initiative. He's also the senior editor and manager of newsletters. @Josh_Barrage