Coronavirus Stories - Reaching Out From Isolation

Edited BY G P Kennedy Espe - Perth, Australia   Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine is a song I use to express big opposing emotions experienced from a single situation or event.  This concept is intriguing to me but also quite natural.  During this pandemic I have experienced such emotions and find relief and comfort accepting the possibility of experiencing opposing emotions in one song (situation).   Some may think this contradiction can create confusion and is miss-matched to the expected or normal human reaction to an event but I think it intensifies the raw feelings.    I love the Yin and Yang experience with emotions throughout this song and feel free to feel any emotions that I need to express.  After listening to this song at high volume, dance to express myself and if needed release.  Then I feel pumped and ready to take on the world!  I am a strong believer in emotional expression to process experiences for optimal ...

Edited BY G P Kennedy  Day 4 sees us travel west from Karachi, Pakistan to Istanbul, Turkey where we meet up with Gul. She is a former journalist and arts professional recently returned to her home city after a prolonged period living in England.   In two very different song choices Gul finds meaning in lockdown through prescient lyrics and lessons from history. Concierto de Aranjuez – Joaquin Rodrigo The concerto of last wish  It was 6 th of May 1972, a political activist and student leader Deniz Gezmiş was executed along with his friends Hüseyin İnan and Yusuf Aslan. He was only 25 years old, he was our Che Guevara who has done nothing apart from shouting against the 1970’s military junta in Turkey.                                                                             ...

Edited by G P Kennedy  Every day this week we will hear from one or two of our Storytellers as they share their two favorite lockdown listens.  We asked them to choose two songs that really stand out for them during our time in isolation. The songs may be new favorites old classics; they may speak to lockdown feelings or act as a beautiful distraction.  We had to start in New York City, with our resident professional musician and all-knowing man of music, Daniel.   Daniel's Songs Joni Mitchell - "Harry's House/Centerpiece"  Joni Mitchell’s records are never far from my turntable for very long in normal times, but for whatever reason I hadn’t been listening to her since the start of the lockdown. But then the other night, while I was making dinner, I decided to put on The Hissing of Summer Lawns. It’s a record I’ve come to know very well, but that certa inly wasn’t al ways the case. Joni was someone I came to many years after the fact and, even then, I got to kno...