Friday the 13th (of March 2020). Sounds like the perfect date to refer to in the future as “Day One”.
I got six gigs cancelled since yesterday, and this morning the IFA Galerie where i am holding my first solo show in Berlin announced to me that they are closing until further notice.
All schools in Germany are closed as of today.
Airlines are stopping their flights to risky countries, but which country is not at risk anymore?
The USA – or Donald Trump as the country was renamed recently – suspended all flights from and to Europe.
People in Europe and around the world are told to stay home as much as possible.
Don’t go out unless it is absolutely necessary.
Avoid contact.
Quarantine yourself.
Stay safe.
OK. Done. And then?
Prepare yourself to cancel all your projects, gigs and performances of the upcoming months.
Prepare yourself mentally to be locked for a long time. With your wife and two daughters. And probably some occasional encounters with friends or neighbours. Away from your son who is in Montreal, where the panic level is still contained (for the moment). Away from your parents who are – old and alone – in Beirut, where the virus is spreading fast since a week and where the panic level is slightly above “we are all going to die”. And away from all the family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances and other random individuals that populate our so-called “daily life” and that is going to change drastically in the upcoming days. Until we get use to it in its new version.
OK. Noted. What’s next?
Find a way to continue working and showing your work.
After a quick Google search on how and where do people “blog” nowadays, this platform came as the right place to be. So here I am writing my first post (or whatever they call them in the new jargon) of my own Corona Diaries, where I will share what I am doing instead of what I should have done – expect old and new drawings, music, thoughts and other occasional stories and pictures from our forced indoor picnic). I’ll start by posting some pictures from the opening of my solo show in Berlin two weeks ago. It’s a way to revive it a little bit and to make a last link with the world as we knew it until a couple of days ago.
See you on the other side, hopefully.
Mazen! Saludos desde Madrid! This old way -i still remember your blog in 2006- is a good one to feel together in these days of seclusion! I’ll keep reading
hello ruben.
good to see you again after 14 years!
this time we are all in the same shit together.
this is good – thank u for sharing. i will follow. much luv from the sequestered in western massachusetts, northamerica.
from sequestered people to sequestered people is the name of the game these days.
thanks for following and stay safe.
Hi Mazen, After a mere 14 years back at Square 2.5. A very weird time is coming and you’re exactly right for the job of commenting. Perhaps a solo trumpet piece against the corona virus?
Stay safe.
hello paul,
time flies.
a solo trumpet won’t be enough. more will come. stay tuned.
Well the good news is, Kerbaj is back to blogging. Lucky us. I hope I can use the time wisely. I polished my trumpet today, for the first time in years! It’s a sign.
it is weird to start blogging again. i am excited and a little bit scared. i cannot but think about the “other” blog, but without the sense of urgency. i am curious to see where this will lead, because now that i started it, it will have to lead somewhere!
wait, you transformed your fluegelhorn into a trumpet? or am i wrong, you always had a trumpet?