Vanity Fair article scenes from the eye of the storm inspires Catania musician Vina Rose to tell of her experiences.
Emotional images from the talented Italian documentary photographer Alex Majoli, recently featured in Vanity Fair capture the most dramatic and moving images taken in southern Italy, in Catania, the home town of musician Vina Rose. A scene showing a man in Catania,’ seemingly aimless’ pushing his shopping trolley is one of many taken by Majoli in Catania, “I felt an echo of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road,” Majoli says of this scene, “An end-of-the-world quality.”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-in-italy-scenes-from-the-eye-of-the-storm – Vanity Fair
In recent days a somewhat abstract concept that started in our marginal vision has suddenly arrived right in front of us – COVID-19 or, as we’ve come to know it, the Coronavirus.
This virulent and highly contagious influenza strain started as a mildly worrying item on the TV news and has quickly become the most important news story in the world – with whole countries currently in quarantine and lockdown.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought huge disruption to daily life to many around the world, impacting all parts of life, society, and the economy, and musicians are as well left to feel the profound financial, artistic and emotional impacts with cessation of all live performances, tours, gigs, recording sessions and video shoots.
“I’ve been feeling the sadness, disappointment and stress of the past months: I’ve been separated from my family after I learnt that I couldn’t return home to Italy and I also missed my parent’s 40 years of marriage milestone on the 19thof April, which left me really heartbroken, I’ve also been spending my birthday and the release day of my album by myself in solitude, and that created a big sense of nostalgia of old normal times. But I tried not to be all doom and gloom and so I’ve been refocusing on my music, writing new ideas, and concentrated in promoting my new EP “Crossroads. I’m using this time now to be creative and get my feelings out. We’re all going through the same thing and, knowing we’re all in it together, I think there’s a lot of peace in that
‘’The thing I really struggled with was to look at the scenes in Italy, where people were singing on their balconies, and that made me cry, I felt very proud and grateful to be Italian and to see how much strength my country showed, and I pray every day that this nightmare will come to an end ASAP”
“My music is very emotional and honest and comes from a deep place, and the people listening to it have maybe had those experiences too: I’ve always wanted to connect with fans during gigs and hear their stories, so another thing I’ve been struggled with was not being able to interact physically with people, ’cause all the gigs were cancelled and with all this social distancing requirements now, I feel like that is not going to be possible for a very long time”
“Looking at those pictures made me feel very emotional, watching deserted streets and that sinister atmosphere of Catania, which is usually a very folchlorist and rowdy city , left me a sense of sadness and grief , and all this forced self isolation made me reflect on how much I miss my family and I can’t wait to be able to hug them again….”
Vina Rose’s EP, released 24th April, entitled Crossroads seems a most appropriate title at this difficult time – crossroads in our emotions, experiences and strength but most importantly hopefully crossroads where the new road we take makes us stronger, better and kinder . Her single ‘Heart of Gold’ could really not be a more fitting single for the many people working so hard to get our world back on track.
“…. the most important thing is to remain positive and keep people’s spirits high, and music does that for people. I’m trying to stay calm, laugh a lot and spread joy and be peaceful, because, like all things, this will pass”
Listen to an exclusive track from Vina’s EP here: https://soundcloud.com/vina-rose/heart-of-gold
skype – quitegr8