We’re kicking off 2017 with the always vibrant, always spirited Martha van Straaten.

She’s given us a special podcast to remind us all of our diversity, but also our interconnectedness as human beings on Earth. Voilá her curated selection of tracks that are universally relatable, inspired by our collective’s cosmic theme. Her set will send you on spacey inner travels, free-wheeling through your own cosmos to discover the beauty of diversity, nature and multiculturalism in an epic 1,5 hours of damn good music.

A self-described collector, her love for combining and putting things together is audible. This mixtape features uniquely different tracks that are entwined so effortlessly, it’s like they were meant to be woven together to create something bigger and cohesive. And that’s her message to us: that *if we learn to enjoy the differences, oneness will follow*

Yes, few of us will ever have the chance to look down from space on to the face of the earth. We probably won’t ever witness the Aurora lights from above, or see thunderstorms explode from a bird’s eye view, or watch millions of lights of cities and civilizations switch on as the shadow of night chases the daylight away.

Yet we’ve all wondered about how tiny we humans are in this infinite universe.

And infinite though it may be, our world is unified; a place without borders, with a lot of colours, animals and happiness.

So before you press play, Martha left us instructions to watch this short video about the “Overview Effect” first, which affects astronauts when they look down on planet earth: https://youtu.be/CHMIfOecrlo

….and last but not least, some words that came from her