Hey there, I'm Kyrie Douglas, I'm a producer here at Overheard, and this is part three of

our four part series, focusing on music, exploration, and black history.

It's called The Soul of Music.

National Geographic Explorers will be sitting down with some of our favorite musicians to

discuss how history of the natural world inspires their art and adventures.

Ray's guests are Explorer, Justin Dutovitt, and musician, Chief Zion Etoune-Azra, formerly

known as Christian Scott.

Chief Zion is a multi-instrumentalist and producer, known primarily for his phenomenal trumpet

and horn playing.

He's a two-time Edison award winner and he has five Grammy nominations.

Born and raised in New Orleans, he's the nephew of Jazz Innovator and legendary Saxman

Donald Harrison Jr.

In 2019, Zion released an album called Ancestral Recall, a concept that he describes almost like

a form of cultural epigenetics, a sort of tapping into the experiences of one's ancestors

in the present.

Zion told Justin that when he recorded the album, which you'll hear a bit of later, he

found himself coming up with patterns that mirrored many traditional African rhythms.

90% of what you hear being exhibited rhythmically is me playing.

And so all those layers and things that you hear on Ancestral Recall is me playing A-Way

drums, I can't drums, you know, dunumba drums, you know.

To finish the record up, I sent it to legitimate bobbas in the old way, like Weedy Brahma.

And when I sent it around to these guys to have them add layers of Jim Bay or, you know,

...