Music and Love in pandemic – share the joy

To me, love and music can be one of the solutions to beat a viral pandemic. Love has been a source of inspiration and faith...

To me, love and music can be one of the solutions to beat a viral pandemic. Love has been a source of inspiration and faith in history and it remains true in our current times. Music, if tagged with love does wonders around the world – to individuals and to communities by keeping them healthy and hopeful. People, in recent months, are surprised and taken aback by the speed and spread of Covid-19/ Coronavirus pandemic across the world. Be it life in bustling metros such as New York, Toronto or tourist attractions across Europe, the quiet in towns of the Himalayas or the serene beaches of Caribbean – all have been equivocally disrupted due to the pandemic.

In this article, I focus on to answer the following question: 

How is love & music contributing in times like these to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and provide hope to communities?

Love and music is universal. Music is enjoyed in various forms across the globe and that every type of music has a notion to spread love among its listeners. Music creates a number of feelings in us humans – it could be love, it could be happiness, it could be feeling of a superhuman sometimes. I myself use music to elevate my mood during occasions of boredom and bring a feeling of love while under pandemic lock-down. I feel music is a magnate to life and it’s biggest attraction is the feeling of love. And with various mediums available to access music (be it your phone app, your online music library, your smart speaker or just you humming your favorite tune) and with time available to self solitude (for most if not all), it is not difficult to think of love and life while you’re playing your favorite kind of music. And when you take that feeling of love and the joy that comes with music and transcend it in your community, it makes magic and creates a sense of hope – which I think is very important in times of crisis.

Take for example – In Italy, a community finds a moment of joy in times of anxiety and worry about the pandemic. Italians are known in the world for their culture, cuisine, religion, and music. They are equally passionate about music as they are for food. Be it community coming together in their apartment balconies to sing and play melodious tunes or be it the great Andrea Bocelli performing renditions of classics such as Ave Maria and Amazing Grace on Easter Sunday. Even Bono, the U2 front-man, wrote a new song dedicated to the Italian community during the times of pandemic. Each event brings the core feelings of joy and love in the forefront to the idea of ‘being human’.

Similarly, I have come across multiple examples online of music being used as a medium to share love and joy across the world during the times of lock-down and Covid-19. ‘One World: Together At Home’ online concert organized by Global Citizen for a noble cause and hosted by world-renowned celebrities (Lady Gaga, Rolling Stones, Elton John to name a few) was watched by millions from the safe abodes across the globe and raised millions of dollars for the health-care efforts. The idea of celebrities and media influencers working together with music and their skills reinforces the idea that ‘being human’ is a far greater cause than anything else in current times.

World needs now is love sweet love...song by students from Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music, US is an example of virtual orchestras that have made music and love the universal language of hope, faith, and joy in the pandemic. Be it young or old, poor or rich, everyone is expected to contribute in some way or another to keep the communities safe and work towards a new norm of life. With music and love, that new norm is not far from our reaches and gives hope that the new norm will be here soon.

This week in Nova Scotia, Canada there was a horrific incident of gun violence that killed atleast 22 individuals. The community, even though shattered to the core, comes out more strong and determined to suppress such evils of society and the evils of the pandemic (#NovaScotiaStrong). This is the very community where local music artists in recent weeks have brought forward the concept of musical telegrams (let’s people request and dedicate songs on social media) to spread love. One such initiative being – Covers for Comfort which is doing such an awesome job of sharing music with beautiful renditions done by talented artists from home and giving it back to the community as a way of love and hope. It is a matter of pride for me to be part of such culture and community which believes in uplifting and sharing in time of crisis rather than working to suppress the impoverished or to achieve one’s own selfish desires using uncouth means.

Around the world there are beautiful examples of people using a mix of music and love to share the message of hope and unity. Be it a random individual in Mumbai, India playing saxophone to a popular tune of ‘Hum honge kamyab’ (translates to “we will succeed”) in the evening to everyone’s delight (shared by actor Anupam Kher on Twitter) or rendition of ‘My heart will go on’ (of Celine Dion) by a pianist from his balcony in Barcelona, Spain. This performance of a popular tune from the movie Titanic is further supported by a random saxophone artist in a nearby building, the outcome being so amazing and brings such a sense of joy, unity, and peace in stressful times of a lock-down.

This is not the end. Such examples of music and love just not end here but extend to coming months where artists, musicians, and media celebrities have planned more of such online events to provide and share beautiful music and create joyous moments for folks watching around the world – just to keep them hopeful and in ‘love’ with life.