On March 30, 2020, in the midst of quarantine that aimed to slow down the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus in Ukraine, we launched the Quarantine Music Days project with the hope of making the days spent in self-isolation emotional and useful for the community.
We invited musicians (whereever they are, using whatever technique they have at hand) to create short videos with their own music or with the music of contemporary composers.
In addition to making music, the musicians also reflected in those videos on a new way of life, consisting of rituals-particles of life in a self-isolation (such as a proper hand-washing with a soap, helping the elderly or sometimes just exhaustingly shortening of the day among four walls in the appartment).
Therefore we (each in his/her own way) spread the message that contributing to slowing down the pandemic is both possible and extremely important.
Composers and performers who had been in self-isolation in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Yalta, Baltimore, Shizuoka and Izmir joined the project.
viktor rekalo
Recorded in Kharkiv, Ukraine
This is a simple reflection. I would even call it like that: Réflexion. In essence, it is improvisation. On the other hand, this is what I feel inside myself during the self-isolation: not only during this compulsory isolation, but also for many reasons not daring to touch something important and life-giving for a long period of time. Thus I'm just broadcasting what I feel every moment, not just during this recording. If you need to repeat - I will repeat the same sounds at any time. Not from memory. There is almost no physical memory left - it's probably easier. I'm breathing like that now. Maybe not just me. Perhaps the memory will return, becoming a triple counterpoint. Take care of yourselves.
— cellist Victor Rekalo
Mehmet can Özer
Recorded in Izmir, Turkey
Turkish composer Mehmet Can Özer is studying the phenomenon of self-isolation: he recorded his day at home in Izmir on camera and dictaphone, and created a video and an electro-acoustic work from recorded footage and sounds.
To make the experience of the immersion in the day of the composer more complete, we recommend connecting headphones to your device.
antonii baryshevskyi
Recorded in Kyiv, Ukraine
Antonii Baryshevskyi is performing a fragment of the etude "Locked Keys" by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. Antonii shares his thoughts about the idea of the video with us:
"We are all blocked by quarantine, but also by boredom, unfinished online courses and unread books, neighbors above, below, opposite, from the North, half-twilight, Bill Gates and the 5G's point, blocked by fighter angels and degenerated spawners, together with burned forests and the time. That's why the Ligeti keys are locked. Therefore - not even completely. Fragmentation, procrastination, moving forward, standing still.»
tata khoroshun
Recorded in Yalta, Ukraine
Tata Khoroshun, ukrainian composer, reflects on the mechanism of COVID-19's spreading and the possibility of influencing it by each individual.
Tata participated in KCMD's master-classes for composers in 2017 and 2018.
Currently she is one of the most active young composers in Ukraine. Her music is performed at concerts in Ukraine and abroad.
Tata is also a co-founder - together with Yana Shlyabanska - of the electroacoustic duo "GUMA".
Dmytro radzetskyi
Recorded in Kyiv, Ukraine
Dmytro is a composer, guitarist, conductor and organizer of the Ukrainian Improvisers Orchestra. He works from his home and reminds us of the importance of following self-isolation and hygiene standards.
The video contains: a soap, etude №7 from "Estudios sencillos" by Cuban composer Leo Brouwer, a bottle of liquid for hand disinfection, Dmitry's invention - MIDI Radz guitar, hands, a sink, Dmitry, a faucet.
orest smovzh
Recorded in Baltimore, USA
These days I'm staying in the room, exploring it, surveying the possibility of the creativity (perhaps completely unnecessary in the future). Within the room I'm change the framework of myself.
Explore the room, explore yourself.
Music - Maxim Kolomiets, Saklas-Tango
Eugenie stronska
Recorded in Kyiv, Ukraine
During my self-isolation I was trying to experiment with a new genre and wrote a work exclusively from the sounds of my apartment and the things in it that created my present.
An unexpected one-moment cessation of habitual communication, forced social distance causes different feelings in each person, often negative.
"Apartness" - a feeling of an alienation, isolation within your apartment, room, your body, inability to hide from your thoughts, fears, confusion, from a sense of difference, the gap between you and the society. The inability that creates the opportunity to see someone inside of you, to meet Him, to look into his face and get used to Him not being able to escape, and therefore get used to yourself.
Junya makino
Recorded in Shizuoka, Japan
In the city of Shizuoka there is an incredibly beautiful chapel, known as the Chapel Solumier, in which the local violinist Juniya Makino regularly sounds. Now, in its empty space, he has recorded "Secret Psalm" for us by a British composer and conductor Oliver Knussen.
Junia is a co-founder of Kyiv Contemporary Music Days. A series of premieres of new music took place in Ukraine with his participation: from a violin sonata by Bernd Alois Zimmermann to a violin concerto with the orchestra of György Ligeti.
nazarii stets
Recorded in Kyiv, Ukraine
Nazar is performing «Joke» — the first of six etudes for double bass solo by Italian composer Stefano Scodanibbio.
To our question, what ritual does the video contain, Nazar answered as follows:
"A constructive and productive time at home".
The project's team
Mariia Tytova
Boris Loginov
Albert Saprykin