From its beginnings in January, the coronavirus outbreak has driven millions of people to shelter at home for long days of anxiousness and boredom. In country after country, people have responded by taking to their balconies, windows, and rooftops to sing to one another, to applaud and show gratitude to their health-care workers, to play music, and to lift one another’s spirits. Collected below are images of some of the musicians and grateful neighbors in Spain, Iraq, the U.S., France, Italy, Lebanon, India, Germany, and more, socializing from a safe distance.
Music and Encouragement From Balconies Around the World
-
People gather on a balcony of a residential building to clap and make noise with kitchenware to thank essential service providers during a one-day Janata (civil) curfew imposed amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19, in Amritsar, India, on March 22, 2020. #
Narinder Nanu / AFP / Getty -
-
Classical musicians Sofia Ceccato and her husband, Simon Bechemin, play for neighbors from their balcony during the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 21, 2020. #
Sergio Moraes / Reuters -
A family applauds from a balcony during an event staged to thank Spanish medical staff fighting against the coronavirus as civilians remain confined inside their homes, in downtown Ronda, Spain, on March 14, 2020. #
Jon Nazca / Reuters -
Health workers from the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital show their appreciation after receiving a tribute from local and state police during the coronavirus pandemic in Santander, Spain, on March 22, 2020. #
David S. Bustamante / Soccrates Images / Getty -
-
DJ Francesco Cellini prepares to play for his neighbors from the rooftop terrace of his apartment building, as Italians remain under lockdown in the Monteverde district of Rome, Italy, on March 21, 2020. #
Alberto Lingria / Reuters -
-
-
-
Pharmacy employees sing as people applaud them from their windows and balconies as part of an event organized through social media to show gratitude to health-care workers during a partial lockdown, outside a pharmacy in Ronda, Spain, on March 20, 2020. #
Jon Nazca / Reuters -
Turkish people pay respect to the doctors, nurses, and health-care workers who are fighting the coronavirus by applauding them from their windows and balconies in Ankara, Turkey, on March 21, 2020. #
Mustafa Murat Kaynak / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
German artist Tirzah Haase sings “Ode to Joy” by Ludwig van Beethoven at the window of her apartment in Dortmund, Germany, on March 22, 2020, in a coordinated event to show solidarity during the new coronavirus pandemic. #
Ina Fassbender / AFP / Getty -
-
A banner that reads “Thanks to our caregivers” hangs from a balcony in Paris as a lockdown was imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus spread in France, on March 23, 2020. #
Benoit Tessier / Reuters -
Opera singers Irini and Bryan Hymel perform for quarantined residents of Lambeth House, where the coronavirus has appeared, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 20, 2020. #
Gerald Herbert / AP -
A resident of Lambeth House reacts from her balcony as opera singers Irini and Bryan Hymel perform for the quarantined assisted-living residents in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 20, 2020. #
Gerald Herbert / AP -
-
A musician, Nujin Hasan, gives a concert to the residents of his apartment building from his balcony, during curfew declared as a precaution against coronavirus in Erbil, Iraq, on March 17, 2020. #
Yunus Keles / Anadolu Agency / Getty -
People look out from their window as residents clap in support of medical workers during the second day of lockdown ordered by the French government, March 18, 2020, in Paris. #
Omar Havana / Getty -
-
People applaud from their windows and balconies as they take part in an event organized to show gratitude to health-care workers, outside a pharmacy in Ronda, Spain, on March 20, 2020. #
Jon Nazca / Reuters -
-
Spanish blues singer Beatriz Berodia, known as “Betta” sings from her balcony during a daily evening concert to support health workers and to make it easier for her neighbors to bear the coronavirus lockdown in Madrid, Spain, on March 19, 2020. #
Susana Vera / Reuters
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.