Coronavirus toll: These we have lost
mainIn the spirit of The Song of Names, we shall try to collate a weekly list of the victims in our global community.
So far, we have recorded:
1 Luca Targetti, former artistic director of La Scala
2 Vittorio Gregotti, La Scala architect
3 Jesus Velez, chorus tenor, Madrid
4 Jean Leber, French violinist, Conservatoire director
5 Manu Dibango, world music star
6 Terrence McNally, US playwright and librettist.
7 US jazz pianist Mike Longo
8 Italian film composer Detto Mariano
9 Saxophone star Marcelo Peralta
Rest their souls.
UPDATE: Week 2
Is there a need to compile such selective, elitist lists of corona victims?
Will this comfort Joe Bloggs in his old people’s home?
If yes, why not compile lists of VIP-victims of flu, cancer, hart disease, Parkinson’s, MS, dementia, etc.?
Gustavo – people have common interests here. It’s a music blog. Joe in his old people’s home wouldn’t be necessarily be here.
Joe may also like music and the internet.
The only common interest here seems to be corona.
why not? …living in an old people’s home
Perhaps in part to underline the continuing seriousness of this pandemic. Unfortunately in portions of the US we still have public officials, responsible for peoples well being, acting as if COVID-19 is equivalent to the common cold. The Governor of a state has declined to institute common-sense precautions because “we aren’t China”. Our President is making the argument that social distancing should cease well before qualified public health experts are estimating it would be safe to do so. For those interested in the arts perhaps a reminder of the consequences of ignoring biomedical realities is a useful undertaking.
But you and your president are successfully ignoring environmental realities.
How can that be?
Why is today’s biomedical reality confined to a single virus that is being non-randomly detected and selectively reported within certain age and/or social classes?
First, don’t ever include me in a sentence with our current President. Second, the benefit(s) of highlighting the dangers of the pandemic is not more or less relative to the need to address global warming, racism, economic inequality… Third, your last statement is beyond idiotic.
Quasi-intellectualism isn’t intellectualism. It means you’re missing the mark by a long shot.
Right now, you are showing the world that you have bats in the belfry, causing you to be socially unacceptable.
If you would take a look at all of the votes against your statements, you might be able to understand all the problems begin and end with yourself. Good luck with that.
Any person agreeing with you on your statements happens to be just as pathological.
because we’re living through a damn coronavirus epidemic you idiot and putting names to musicians and arts adjacent victims of covid19 is importart right now.
Well, there’s missing the point, and then there’s ducking out of the way to make sure the point misses you…
Beautifully said.
US Jazz pianist and arranger Mike Longo (longtime musical partner of Dizzy Gillespie)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Longo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2191&v=1M3ST_OQDiI&feature=emb_logo
Also: Marcelo Peralta, Argentine saxophone virtuoso (jazz and classical), March 10.
Thank you Norman. It is only right that we acknowledge those in the music field taken before their time by this virus. Without your listing, most of us would only know those in our own country or the global ‘big’ names. I for one very much appreciate this simple honouring of the victims.