Social distancing has brought impromptu balcony concerts from opera to DJ sets to ritual applause. But Montreal has one you might get behind: drones.
Here in Berlin, some people are blasting Beethoven, but the most popular experience seems to be 6pm applause for health care workers and other support volunteers and staff (following the lead of Spain and Italy). To the DJ sets I might say – uh, please don’t, honestly. Some of the ones I’ve seen online look like they make house arrest worse, not better.
John Triangles Stuart has proposed the drones as an alternative. And it’s bring-your-own drones – maybe a less intrusive way to make people feel less alone, without waking people who may have actually contracted the virus. From the event description:
Le drone: la seule chose qui concentre tout les traditions musicaux a travers le monde. Rassemblons-nous tous (dans nos abris) et produisont-nous un drone (en C) de nos balcons and nos fenêtres, pour qu’on puisse être entendu au travers la ville – nous unir dans l’isolement et réverbérer l’amour et la passion.Ce Vendredi soir de 21h-21h15. Prenez n’importe quel instrument (ils y a des options en ligne) et dronez ))))
The Drone is one thing that links much of the traditional musics we share. Let’s all gather (in our shelters) and produce a drone (in C) from our balconies and windows that can be heard across the city – unifying us all in isolation and reverberating love and compassion . This Friday night from 9 -915. Grab any music maker you may have on hand (there are online synths if you don’t) and drone ))))
Très québécois, quelle avant-garde!
Event info:
https://www.facebook.com/events/211837546694592
I’m very curious how this goes, what it sounds like, and how neighbors respond (positive and negative). Let us know.
And thanks, Montreal, for hosting me as — the last place, really — out of my flat I spent at the beginning of this crisis. I’m about to run out of the bagels I brought back, but I’ll be thinking of all of you, and the rich community in electronic sound I got to visit this year and in years past, the MUTEK network, the academic community in Quebec, all your geeks and artists and circus geniuses and everyone else. So I’m droning with you in spirit.
In other news:
Meet the Italians Making Music Together Under Coronavirus Quarantine [The New Yorker]
During quarantine, balconies worldwide set the stage for DJ sets, squats and singing [The Washington Post]