After heartwarming videos of residents in Italy and Spain were captured singing from their balconies, residents of a building in Dallas, Texas, broke out into a chorus during the quarantine. (Scroll down to watch the video)
South Side on Lamar, an apartment building in Dallas, was buzzing as quarantined voices joined together to sing a chorus to the popular Bill Withers song, ‘Lean On Me,’ led by resident and soulful tenor Danzel Barber.
Soon other residents joined Barber in his refrain, some added harmonies, and some looked out of their windows while filming on phones.
North Texas member station KERA reported the story, and longtime contributor Mark Birnbaum, who lives in the building, caught the singalong on camera. While another resident radio host Bonnie Curry of Texas radio station KLTY, organized the singalong.
Curry said she was inspired by videos of Italians singing in quarantine from the balconies of their buildings. Now as Italy is in a country-wide lockdown, videos of them quarantine singing have begun to circulate social media. Italy now has more than 50,000 confirmed cases and nearly 5,000 deaths from COVID-19.
“When I saw the video of them singing from window to window to encourage each other, I realized I live in a building that has lots and lots of windows,” said Curry. “I think we could all use a bit of encouragement right now.”
So Curry organized this impromptu singing at the South Side on Lamar apartment building, a former Sears warehouse. She chose ‘Lean on Me’ as the song for its universality and, of course, its timely message. “Everything about that song to me says what we all need to be doing right now,” Curry said. “There are people all around us that need help.”
When Barber, an experienced singer, saw an advertisement of the singalong, he said he would participate to help out. “I wanted to be a part of something that could lift the spirits,” Barber said. Like many others, he’s been working remotely from his apartment to socially distance.
Curry suggested Barber to start the singing at 11 a.m. Friday, she sang along with her community, following Barber’s lead. “It’s an amazing moment of community,” she said. “People coming together even though we have to stay apart.”
We all need to come together (with social distancing) and support one another during this difficult time of coronavirus pandemic.
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