We are all having hard times nowadays because of the global outbreak of CoronaVirus which started at the end of 2019 in China and spread all around the world in a very short time. The number of cases and deaths as well is rising every minute; authorities urged people to stay at home; countries impose nationwide curfew one after another. It is a kind of surreality, and we feel like being the middle of a dystopic movie; we are living actually in a dystopic movie that we were used to watching on TV. Our way of life has been changed; had to be changed! Because, we can not go out, meet our friends to have a cup of coffee or tea; we even can not visit our own families. I am one of those who is away from his children, wife and I am sure there are many other cases like me.
The crisis we faced and being stuck at home as a result of this crisis has an effect on our psychology, too. Except trying to keep ourselves, our families, relatives, and friends safe by warning them to stay at home, we try to find some ways to escape from this surrealistic situation. Of course, some people are watching movies – mostly sci-fi, and mostly about outbreaks, I would say –, some people find some other ways to get along. Writing is another way, at least for me, even though it took over one week to concentrate on it. And now that we are here, I am going to try writing about musical activities on Corona Virus / or related to the outbreak, there are also funny examples.
It seems that another way we, as human beings, have found to get over this situation is music. As Özge Ç. Denizci who writes about music says "music will safe us from this crisis".[1] I do not know if music is going to save us from this crisis, but something is very clear – whatever happens, music will help people.
In one sense, music can also be seen as a human activity to express one's own feelings and thoughts with a certain rhythm and melody, accompanied by an instrument, or without an instrument. In some cases the music is made to deliver a message; in some cases, this is an activity for "popularity"; or to entertain the others, to motivate, to show solidarity with one another, and just to express one's feelings. Whatever happens or has happened in the course of history, some people have expressed their feelings about it with a certain melody and rhythm. They have made songs about it, either to entertain the others or just to express their emotions. It is a kind of social reaction to what happens in the surrounding, the same just like in these Corona days!
It is very clear that everything has been affected by this outbreak, so does music and musical activities. Like many other activities, musicians had to cancel their concerts but did not stop their musical activities. Some started giving online concerts. Some directly/indirectly made music about the Corona Outbreak. Let's look at some examples of those reactions from the country I live in and also from the world in different languages. Some of them are just produced for fun, to entertain people; some are produced as a popular culture material, and some for solidarity, some for raising awareness, but all are kind of expressing emotions.
First of all, I have to say that there (was) is a band named CORONA; an Italian Eurodance band. The leading singer is, Olga de Souza from Brazil. Their "Rhythm of the Night" is very popular on youtube. For a live performance, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvwX81COn6Y
And for the information about the band, see: http://www.coronadance.it/
It is also a coincidence that music, a Coronavirus outbreak, and Italy come with each other. People started to think more music when Italian started giving live concerts on their balconies to motivate each other and show solidarity with each other in the middle of the crisis when they were locked in. Here is one of the scenes from those concerts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q734VN0N7hw
(Coronavirus: quarantined Italians sing from balconies to lift spirits). And another one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_rLw6SCSmE
They actually spread the idea of making music at home, on the balconies and sharing it with people, which probably shows that "we still have spirit", "we are still alive".
Then similar scenes started to be seen in other countries, one of which is the German city Bamberg, in which people on their balconies/rooftops are singing the Italian revolutionary song 'Bella Ciao' in solidarity with Italy whose death toll rises every day. It can also be considered as an apology for that "European Union" (if there is any, anymore!) that has done nothing to help one of the members of the Union!
The examples are not only from Europe. There are also musicians from different parts of the world singing about Coronavirus. For example, from Turkey, the country I am living, both in Kurdish and Turkish (and even English!).
In Turkey, even before the outbreak cases had been seen, Aydın, a local singer Aydın from Hakkari province, a South-eastern city, composed a song and shot a video-clip to warn people about coronavirus: Öpme! (Don't Kiss!). I remember telling my friends that this song and video-clip should be published as a public service announcement ;-) to make people aware of the disease: Here is the link to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ6k1qBSUvU
Soon other musicians started doing the same, singing "corona" songs such as Kurdish wedding musician: Korona: Nexweşiya Çîn û Japona (Corona. The disease of Chinese and Japanese)! which has unintended racist words in it. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls3ahhIYWEg
Many similar songs can be found on youtube both in Kurdish and Turkish, probably in other languages, too. A funny one in Kurdish: Korona vîrus derketiye, ziravê me qetiya ye! (Corona Virus has come up, we all are scared!). Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwPoq4LfK2o
It is even adapted to a dance which makes it funnier: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FSaxsjMkgY
Beside those funny examples, there are more "serious" ones. Chinese musicians composed an "Anthem" for this outbreak, performed by pop stars such as Jackie Chan, Wang Leehom, Xiao Zhan, and Tong Liya. The emotive video-clip of Believe Love Will Triumph, which has also English subtitles and was published by state media Global Times consists of pictures of Chinese coronavirus patients, ending with We gather to power the people of China: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmrp9BTLOJ0
As I said above, the outbreak has an effect on everything, our everyday life, our habits, and our formal education system. In many countries, online lectures are being imposed. It seems that some are not prepared for this kind of lecturing. A Professor of History and Political Science Department at the Missouri University of Science and Technology Dr. Michael Bruening complains about this new situation by singing a song with his guitar adapted from Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive. The video was uploaded on March, 16, and since then got 2,31 B subscriptions and over 2000 comments showing that Dr. Bruening has already articulated many people's feelings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCe5PaeAeew
There are also other kinds of music videos uploaded on youtube in one or another way related to the outbreak of the Coronavirus. Stay safe from coronavirus by Persian music is one of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsB0FCuHOSc
Another one is Funky house music against the coronavirus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtxadAdMco
The last one is once again from Kurdish musicians. Probably, it is for the first time in the last 30 years that Kurds voluntarily did not celebrate the Newroz festival outside in the streets because of the outbreak. But it did not keep them away from celebrating it, either. Some listed all the songs related to Newroz and put them to their iTunes, Spotify, youtube, twitter, Facebook pages and shared them with their followers to listen together. But some like the ones in the video played and sung in a teleconference system, published on MA Music Facebook account with a title of Di Rojên Corona da Newroz (Newroz in the Corona Days), 21 March 2020 (https://www.facebook.com/1307329805996537/videos/154369865763450/?type=1).
Music has been / and still is an important part of our human activities. No matter what happens we will not abandon music, and probably music will not abandon us either. It also can be said that even though at the beginning we all felt depressed, and did not know what to do, the more we are getting used to staying at home, the more we tried to be more productive. And it seems that music is somehow the biggest helper for us to stay "alive", to be more productive.
Stay safe with music!
