Producer Regina de Heer is asking listeners for songs that represent something about their identity as part of a diaspora – any kind of diaspora! And you’ve been answering.
In this installment, we hear Brazilian Calypso, a modern take on a Yiddish classic by the Andrews Sisters, and get a special submission from one of our favorite show guests. And you can hear the playlists now at WNYC.org/playlist.
Send us your song for our summer playlist! What’s a song that represents your personal diaspora story? Go to notesfromamerica.org and click on the “RECORD” button to leave a voice note with your answer. Tell us the name of that song and the artist, and a 1-minute story that goes along with it. We’ll gather all of the songs and your stories in a Spotify playlist that we’ll update all summer. 
Tell us what you think. Instagram and X (Twitter): @noteswithkai. Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or going to Instagram and clicking on the link in our bio.

The Music of Your Diaspora

Notes from America with Kai Wright is a show about the unfinished business of our history, and its grip on our future.

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News Commentary

Ayana Mathis joins us to discuss her novel, The Unsettled. It's an intergenerational story centered around one Black family's struggle to find freedom.

What Does It Mean To Be Free?

Today’s grads are being heralded as the generation that will change the world. And while many in Gen Z are eager to rise to the occasion, some wonder how fair of an expectation that is.

Class Of 2024 Grads Reflect On Being Expected to Change the World

This spring, more than 150 college campuses saw anti-war protests with demonstrators calling for their schools to divest from companies doing business in Israel’s occupied territories.

Why Divestment Is At the Core of Student Protests

For nearly 50 years, “The Wiz” has been a staple in Black families. To celebrate its return to Broadway, we take calls about your connections to the show and discuss its legacy.

What ‘The Wiz’ Was And Is to Black Culture

Tonya Mosley's voice is familiar to millions of public radio listeners across the country. She co-hosted NPR's midday news show Here and Now for several years before becoming co-host of Fresh Air in 2022. Now, the award-winning audio journalist is taking listeners on a personal journey. 
Around two decades ago, Mosley was just at the start of her career working in Louisville, Kentucky, when she got a call from a young man named Antonio Wiley, who said he was her nephew. Mosley hadn't grown up with her father, so the idea that she might have a nephew she had never met wasn't totally shocking. But then her nephew said something that would shock her and come to define so much of Mosley's adult life. 
Wiley’s mom and Mosley’s eldest sister, Anita Wiley, had been missing since 1987, and Wiley has been searching to find out what happened to her since the age of 14.
After a major discovery led to Anita's body in 2020, Mosley and Wiley decided to retrace Anita's life, hoping to find out what happened to her, documenting their effort in a podcast. 
It's called She Has a Name, and it's part memoir, part investigative journalism — a deep dive into the city and the history that shaped Anita's life and the lives of the people who loved her. 
In this episode of Notes from America, Mosley walks us through how this investigation redefined her relationship with her hometown and her identity, how it impacted her nephew, and what it means for people to try and find closure when so many questions remain unanswered. 
Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here.
Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET., and listeners to the broadcast and podcast are invited to join the conversation at 844-745-TALK(8255). Podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

The Music of Your Diaspora

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