NEW ORLEANS — Form the porch of her Chalmette home, Jazz Fest artist Charm Taylor hopes her voice echoes far beyond her yard, where she practices social distancing.
“Sometimes you can’t find the words to express how you’re feeling, but music is at the core of the feeling,” said Taylor.
That feeling is gratitude, for healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taylor’s music is thanks to a community-based effort to connect New Orleans artists to medical professionals. Doctor Anjali Niyogi with Tulane University’s School of Medicine and physician at University Medical Center helped make it happen.
“I was in the hospital from the start of COVID and was really sensing the anxiety amongst all of my colleges and the nurses,” said Niyogi.
To ease that anxiety while also financially supporting musicians, “Letters from the Porch” found its rhythm. Thanks to support from Tulane, small production staff and daily recordings, Taylor, who recently lost two relatives because of COVID-19, is the 20th artist to turn her porch into a stage.
“We hope the music will be a way for folks to know that we’re with them,” said Taylor.
The effort seems to be working.
“Somebody wrote and said I didn’t even know that I needed this until I watched it,” said Niyogi.
Once recordings are wrapped, they’re streamed online and even played in hospitals, putting the healing power of music, right where it’s needed most.
“It reminds us that that community is still out there and is really supporting us,” said Niyogi.
“We’re hoping that when they hear these songs that it reverberates a sense of togetherness and a sense of hope,” said Taylor.
A sense of hope, created through harmony, from a porch. For information on “Letters from the Porch” or if you would like to donate, click here: https://www.lettersfromtheporch.com/
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