Like everyone else in the U.S., Ifat Orgad was anxious to see the pandemic wind down, as restrictions eased, businesses reopened and families began to gather again. But unlike everyone else, she decided to write a song about it -- record it in eleven different languages, and disseminate the accompanying video to a global audience.
"We wanted it to be multi-languages," Orgad said, sitting in the Mountain View recording studio where she recently recorded the song, "so lots of people around the world can relate to this song."
The South Bay resident - by way of Israel, re-wrote the lyrics of a Hebrew song and re-fitted them with a post-Covid themed song called "The Day Will Come." The song talks hopefully about returning to cafes, buffets, hugging relatives and putting Zoom in the rearview mirror.
She then enlisted some talented musician friends, booked a studio and professionally recorded the song with eleven different singers singing in languages from Italian to German to Hindi to Arabic to Chinese.
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"Different languages always feel like uniting something bigger," said Avital Fighel, a pianist who helped arrange the song. "The more people understand, can relate, can pour their heart into it."
A video of the singers recording their respective parts has been viewed by tens of thousands of people around the world via YouTube, Facebook and Spotify.
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The lyrics yearn for the family bonds that have been stretched by the isolation of the pandemic -- the "uncles, cousins we've missed -- the grandparents we'll kiss." That message was personal for Orgad who hadn't been able to visit her parents back in Israel for the majority of the pandemic.
"I really miss them, want to hug them," Orgad said. "That’s why I finished the song - "we will hug."
The pandemic, for all the hardship, illness and death it levied, created something of a shared global experience, uniting people beneath the same umbrella of fear, determination, loss and hope. For the musicians and singers on the project, music became the delivery system for that shared experience.
"Music binds us together," said Ambreen Lakhani who sang the song in Hindi. "That’s what really excited me -- is because it is in this togetherness, this is how we’re going to overcome COVID-19."
The group said even the act of gathering in a recording studio to sing together, was an inspiring moment that seemed to at least temporarily push away the last fifteen months of quarantine.
"To hear someone live, singing," recalled producer Gil Friedman, "it was wow! Yes, amazing."
Even though restrictions have eased as vaccines have rolled out, Orgad cautioned the song was still looking forward; the finish line, especially in some nations still struggling to contain the virus -- was at least in sight, yet not completely at hand. As in her lyrics, she said the day after the end of COVID-19 was coming, and people would just have to hang on a little longer.
"They’re talking about the kids going back to school, we’ll see each other without a mask," she said quoting lines from her song. "We can live again, we can actually live again."
You can listen to the full song and watch video here.
