• Coronavirus in culture: the great museums of Madrid are closed "until further notice"
  • Culture: collapse of museums and cancellation of musicals and great concerts Music

Jorge Drexler woke up last Tuesday in Costa Rica with the "evident feeling," he says, that he was going to have to cancel the concerts of his American tour. That Drexler is a doctor by training is almost unimportant, in this case. He grabbed his guitar and composed a song that he had devised as a greeting protocol before his show and that ended up becoming almost an antiviral anthem. It goes like this: "Paranoia and fear / are not and will not be the way / of this we will go out together / standing side by side".

A day later, the Uruguayan singer-songwriter, who had two recitals scheduled at the Melico Salazar Theater in San José and appointments in Miami, Boston, New York, Washington and San Juan in Puerto Rico, decided to offer a "virtual concert" through his Facebook page, identical to the one provided. Same wardrobe, same repertoire, same scenery. An hour and a half of performance from the stage of a completely empty theater that yesterday accumulated more than 300,000 reproductions and around 10,000 comments. "We are in a unique moment to do things at a distance," the musician celebrated as consolation for the health crisis caused by a "bastard virus" with the name of terminator : Covid-19.

By then the song was already viral. "It generates mixed feelings for me: on the one hand the joy of contributing something and on the other, the shame that a song of mine associated with such a sad circumstance spreads," he says from Spain, claiming at the same time the ability of music to transmit "hope, company, comfort, relief from fear" and, above all, to weave an "emotional network" in these dystopian times.

"This crisis is a very difficult way to learn about what we really need to live and how we relate to the fear of others," insists the singer with his son doing background choruses. "We will learn that this is not solved one by one, that it is a social problem and, therefore, it is solved with social solidarity." Side by side

Drexler has not been the only one who has been encouraged to prescribe music from a distance. Around 40 Spanish artists have conspired to offer this weekend a concert recital through their respective social networks under the hashtag #YoMeQuedoEnCasa .

Last night at 10:30 p.m., Marwan performed from his "voluntary and necessary confinement" in Madrid. "When concerts began to be canceled, there were many of us who proposed acting online, each on our own," he tells by phone, concerned about the health of his parents and convinced that he will end up falling because his partner works in a hospital. "What is happening is a bitch for many singers who were on tour and live on the wire and the idea of ​​playing in streaming was a way to keep everyone company to have a drink and make this as enjoyable as possible for people who it is isolated. "

It was music producer Franchejo Blázquez who was collecting tweets and mobilizing artists to turn various messy initiatives into a festival. Rozalén, Alfred García, Andrés Suárez, Georgina, Dvicio , Marwan himself ... "The light went on when I saw the messages. What if we do something orderly with each artist from home and we do it well? And from that idea This wonderful madness came out in just five hours. It is very exciting to see how the solidarity of the entire music industry has overwhelmed us, so much so that we have proposals to repeat another weekend, "explains Blázquez. "This shows that by adding together we will all come out before this."

It is very exciting to see how the solidarity of the entire music industry has overwhelmed us

Rozalén's first message was on Thursday afternoon: "We have a mini concert on the networks this weekend ???". She and her guitar will perform on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. "I wanted to take advantage of my social networks to share health information and raise awareness among young people that they were not taking the recommendations seriously, who continued to fill the terraces as if nothing had happened," says the singer from La Mancha. "The festival should serve us now to entertain people in their homes and for people to understand that it is only a few days. We have to get something positive out of all this . I have a huge list of books to read and I can finally finish my new album. It took a pandemic for me to get it, "he jokes.

"We are experiencing something totally dystopian that we never imagined and surely we have been too naive. We should have been more cautious and we were not," shares Marwan. "Art must now be a weapon to awaken consciences and to nourish the soul , even if we are locked up. It has always been like this: a book, a movie or a record give company and relief."

Rozalén, preparing his concert at home DANIEL AYLLÓN

Next Friday the third album of Dvicio is released . The date is still intact. "We will adapt as we can to this rare and unprecedented situation," says Andrés, leader of the group. He, alone, will advance some of the songs this Sunday from his home. "We are five but it didn't make sense for us to get together, when it comes to mentalizing people to stay home and realize the really important things and how fragile we are."

Today, also from his house and just a meter away from the musician Joaquín Sánchez, there will be a concert by Javier Ruibal via Instagram and Facebook. "The idea is to keep in touch with people and that nobody falls into despair and bad vibes," he says. "Talk to people, interact and contribute what music always brings: an escape route and a great plan to develop new desires."

The luck of each one of us is connected to the luck of the others

Ismael Serrano

Ruibal says that acting shoes with the "fragility" of some slippers at home and locked up but with the window wide open is in the end an opportunity to recover the essence of music. "Sometimes we are left with the flash of the great show and we forget about that other part that is so beautiful that it contains a song beyond pyrotechnics."

And so, suddenly, those social networks crowded with noise, anger, fake news and panic have become a gigantic improvised festival. "Hopefully we cover that noise with music," says Ismael Serrano from his private bunker, hours after canceling his tour plans due to the happy virus. He will also act online. "Even more than the coronavirus operates the virus of fear and music has enormous power to raise people's morale. I am convinced that this crisis will change us all."

- Will it change us for better or for worse?

- Why not for good? I think that in recent times, also artists, we had given up talking about us, about collective dreams, to look at our navel. And this will make us look at each other more, revalue the common good and understand that the fate of each of us is connected to the fate of others. It will have to be this way because the opposite is a save yourself who can.

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