‘And the people stayed home and read books and listened…and were still…and the people began to think differently… and created new ways to live… and heal the earth…’
This was a project dreamed up by a longstanding member of the BFC Bass section, Clive Whitburn, just as the world was beginning to realise that it would never be quite the same again. It started as an idea to compose a piece of music to the words of Kitty O’Meara’s (from Winsconsin USA) In Time of Pandemic, for A Cappella chorus. Clive was delighted when Kitty eagerly agreed to him setting her words.
Clive then invited some of his fellow BFC members to join the New Network Virtual Singers and send him their recordings, along with other singers from as far afield as Uzbekistan and Edinburgh making this a truly international undertaking.
He then invited Eastbourne filmmaker and video editor Ray Burnside and artist Stephanie Grainger to make a video to bring the whole work to life.
A fellow BFC member spoke for all of us who took part when she said ‘what an amazing piece and such a great achievement. The picture of the elderly person, along with the lovely music, broke me! So sad to think of the loneliness around and so good to be part of a great project to lift the spirits’.
This uplifting piece very quickly achieved 2,000 internet viewings. So then Ray Burnside invited anyone who was making art, on their own or with members of their households and others or were working across the internet during this strange time, to upload what they had created under lockdown.
The resulting wide ranging and fascinating archive of creativity is something of which BFC is proud to be part.
You can enjoy exploring it on www.timeofpandemic.co.uk