A month into quarantine, people in the EU nation of Lithuania had their spirits lifted by a virtual joint performance of several choirs and celebrities, in a viral video that also features social leaders repeating the message “stay home, be happy” in sign language.
The clip is part of a good-humoured campaign to keep the COVID-19 coronavirus in check in the Baltic country by renewing people’s resolve to stay safely at home even as spring settles in.
It centres on an amazingly beautiful rendition of the patriotic song Lietuva Brangi (“Dear Lithuania”) by 67 professional voices – all recorded remotely, on phones or computers, by the members of multiple choirs from Vilnius University and the well-known singer Vaidas Baumila, who once sang for the country at Eurovision.
“This project was a real challenge for Vilnius University’s choirs. We’d never done anything like this before. We careful prepared and then carried out the complex effort in stages,” Rasa Gelgotienė, the director of the historic university’s joint choir, explains. She says she first recorded herself directing. Based on that, piano accompaniment was prepared and used by all the singers to record their parts.
“Lietuva Brangi” has deep meaning for Lithuanians, having been seen in certain periods almost as a second national anthem. The song was composed by Juozas Naujalis, known as the patriarch of Lithuanian music, and takes its words from a poem by the national poet Maironis.
Throughout the music video, a variety of public figures, educators, diplomats, medical workers and ordinary people at home repeat a special hand gesture, proposed by Lithuania’s deaf community, to reinforce the #LikNamie (#StayHome) message. It consists of bringing one’s fingertips together, as though forming a roof, and then giving two thumbs up.
“This symbol-slogan consists of two words from Lithuanian sign-language – ‘home’ and ‘good’. Right now, which isn’t easy for any of us, it’s vital for all of Lithuania to stay in our homes. A simple and easy-to-remember gesture like this is a perfect way to say ‘let’s stay at home, since home is good’,” notes Kęstutis Vaišnora, the president of the Lithuanian Association of the Deaf.
“It may sound paradoxical that we, who work to bring people together with communication, are urging people to stay apart now. But social distancing seems to be just what Lithuania and the world need the most right now,” says Pranas Kuisys, the managing director of mobile operator Bitė Lietuva, whose employees came up with the project idea and also appeared in the video.
“United in song, we can demonstrate a Lithuanian patience that we’ll take pride in later, and that will enable us again as soon as possible to spend our precious time with those we love,” he adds.
The video has been actively shared, with calls to stay home, not just by political leaders, public figures, celebrities and major TV channels in the country, and among the general public, but even by groups as far off as the Lithuanian community in Siberia.
Ever since late March, Bitė’s customers have seen the provider’s network identified on their mobile devices not just as “Bitė”, but as “Lik namie. Bitė” (“Stay home. Bitė”) – another effort to remind and encourage people to live safely and responsibly during the current period of quarantine.
