♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I've been performing for, I'd say, like eight, nine years, but then playing violin, I've been playing for about 20 years.

♪♪ When I was a kid, there was a -- like, at my elementary school, they had, like, a -- like, the high school kids came over to display different instruments, and they were, like, playing a flute, a piano, a this, a drum, and this, and then someone played a violin, I was like, "Oh, I want to play violin."

And I asked my mother to give me a violin, and she was like, "Okay, I'll get you a violin," and I got violin.

And I just started playing it and just kept playing since.

♪♪ I started at the age of 10, playing violin like a classical way, you know, like, taking classical lessons with violin teachers and stuff and playing in orchestras and stuff.

♪♪ And When I got to New Orleans, or I'd say, like a year before I got to New Orleans, I started developing a different style of music, which was more improvisation-based.

I'd say more like, like, a healing-based music, let's say, like, taps into emotions more and how I'm feeling, and, I'd say, how other people are feeling, they can relate.

♪♪ My name is Wael Elhalaby.

I am a street performer, and I play music on the streets.

Yeah.

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪ Basically, I was performing full-time in New Orleans, and when the pandemic hit, I couldn't perform anywhere.

I couldn't make any money more, because tourism stopped in New Orleans basically.

And with my job, I rely on tourism for finance.

So once the pandemic hit, I decided to come to New York City.

Even though there was still a pandemic here, I felt there was more people.

The city was, like, on lockdown basically when I came.

It was like no one, like, there's way more people out than there are.

[ Siren wails ] It was like, I think it was I'd say, like end of the March, April was when I came, you know, it was, like, so right when when New York was like the hotspot.

♪♪ And I just felt more of a purpose, you know, like, 'cause performing is not just for finances, it's also, like, a passion of mine.

So once I stopped performing, I don't feel good.

So coming to New York helped me with finances, and it helped me fill the purpose.

You know, like, I'm playing for people, bringing people's spirits up, and people are enjoying it and so it's like a win-win for both sides.

♪♪ ♪♪ Like, I'd say, it's more difficult to perform, because there's less people outside.

There's more a fear of spreading the virus, so, like, I have to be cautious.

People are cautious, you know, people keep the distance and I'm, you know, I'm cautious about if I build a crowd when I'm performing, so I wouldn't want to build a crowd.

So, you know, like that kind of affects the music a lot, you know?

And then there's always this fear of, like, you know, "Okay, I'm performing," and then is there a possibility of catching it, you know, so I take precautions.

♪♪ I felt the city needed music.

Because, like, during the pandemic, a lot of people, you know, they're quarantine-based, like, they don't have, like, this interaction with people, they don't have, like -- a lot of entertainment is closed down, like, music helps, you know, cheer people's souls and without it, you know, especially if you're locked in the house, it's gonna cause depression.

And so I think there's a saying like, "The cure shouldn't be, you know, it shouldn't be worse than the illness itself."

And I feel like with the depression that can cause a lot of deaths just in that on its own.

So the music, I felt, it was -- I really felt from the people, like, they were like very happy about the music, and it was bringing their spirits up.

And I always get people who come up to me like, "Oh my God, you know, since this pandemic, I've been so sad, but now I feel happy again, and you're bringing hope to the city and hope to everyone," and so I feel that, and that's what drives me more than money, I would say, is the purpose, the feeling... [ Applause ] ...that I'm helping out.

♪♪ ♪♪ I did some Instagram performances live, and that was actually okay.

It wasn't too bad, it was quite fun, you know.

I still feel like I was performing for a crowd, but I still prefer performing on the streets.

♪♪ I'm actually feeling like doing more personal work just for myself, like, like, not even performing so much for people, for big crowds.

I'd say switching to, like, more, like, a sound-healing-type of music, like, where I'm doing, like, one-on-one sessions with people.

I might go to, like, a place of solitude to just, like, work on myself and work on the music more and really advance that to, like, a more healing type of work, you know?

♪♪ ♪♪ The quarantine in general, I think, it's causing people to kind of slow down their lives, and so you're starting to really question, like, what makes sense?

You know, there's a lot of things don't make sense, especially in the fast-paced world, I'd say.

♪♪ It pushes me to slow down, it pushes a lot of people to slow down.

When you move slower, you can kind of see your reality and see what you're doing in your life more.

And you can kind of decide like, "Oh, I don't like this so much, so I'm gonna shift that a little bit."

But if you're running really fast, you're... ...like, you're not gonna see it, 'cause it's like if someone's, like, going 50 miles per hour, you know, and someone going five miles per hour, you know, like, if someone asked him, "Oh, did you see the tree?"

Like, oh, the 50 mile per hour didn't see it, but the one going five miles did see it.

The pandemic in general, and in New York was like a platform to see that, as well, because it's, like, New York is the center of the world, I'd say, you know, in terms of like the fast pace, you know, it's so much going on.

So because of that, I feel the push to go in that fast pace so much more.

With that big push, I see it and I can, like, I have to step back from it, you know, so I'm stepping back from, like, a very difficult place.

And with that, it's the push to go deeper in is so much stronger from that experience.

♪♪ So many other things I need to do in my life and can do that feels more important than just, like, working hard.

I hope, like, it's just as much time as I put into work I put into, like, myself.

One thing I've been realizing lately is that when I perform, I'm actually performing for myself.

like, this is music for me, It's like healing music for me.

And then and the only way that it can heal someone else is if it heals me first, if I'm tapped into myself so much that it branches out, you know, 'cause, like, there's no way I can mentally think about what's gonna heal someone else, 'cause I don't know them.

For me, like, life is not all about just surviving, you know, it's so much more than that.

♪♪ ♪♪ Ramos Riera: [ Speaking Spanish ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Molina-Gaetán: Born and raised in Spanish Harlem, the barrio born and raised ...second generation, she was born here, too.

♪♪ Growing up in New York is special.

It comes with with sights and sounds and smells and things that, as a kid, kind of, I won't say, force you to kind of be well-rounded.

♪♪ Very early on, my mother knew there was some sense of music within me.

I wanted to do music.

That's all I've ever wanted to do.

I can't remember being a year without playing a drum.

♪♪ ♪♪ My name is Camilo Ernesto Molina Gaetán.

I'm a musician, producer, educator, mainly a percussionist.

♪♪ They say you're a professional at what you do the first time you get paid for it, I guess.

So the first time I was 8 years old, 7 years old, I couldn't tell you the specifics of what happened because I was 7 years old and, you know, I had a tape deck in one hand, listening to music, and in other pocket, I had a Game Boy.

So I was 7, 8 years old, and I joined the group called Viento de Agua.

And that was the first time I remember being called for gigs and being at rehearsals and being part of something that was legit.

So from 7, 8 years old till I'm 30 -- I just turned 30 this year -- 25, that's 25 years give it to give or take [Laughs] if you round up a little bit.

Yeah, and it's been a learning process and growing, and I'm not who I was as a musician 10 years ago.

I'm not who I was as a musician 20 years ago, and I hope 10 years from now, I'm not who I am as a musician now.

Hopefully I, you know, keep expanding and keep learning.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ When the lockdown of COVID was made official in New York City the day before, I'd just gotten off a plane [Laughs] from Puerto Rico.

That day, I had a gig.

And then that night, the calls started coming in, cancelations left and right.

The gig this week is canceled.

The gig next week is canceled.

The gig next month is canceled.

It was kind of overwhelming at the beginning of it, and it was kind of a thought of "What am I gonna do?"

[ Laughs ] Like, everything in a moment in a matter of two days, everything for the upcoming six months was just completely just -- and it was no sign of like, "Oh, yeah, well, it's gonna be rescheduled for..." It was just like it's gone.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ To walk down the street and not see people or see minimal cars or see images of 42nd Street completely, like -- those are things I never in the 30 years I've been on this earth, never really witnessed.

It was eerie, and I feel like a lot of -- even if you weren't born and raised here and you've been here for a long time, it was eerie, bizarro world.

It was like, "This is not normal."

We knew that it was serious.

We knew that it was something.

This being one of the most close and, as far as population, one of the most populated cities, you know, and we knew it was something that wasn't gonna be gone in the warmer weather like was told to us.

[ Laughs ] And it was just a lot in a very short amount of time.

To go from this year, we have a lot of gigs, and we're traveling, and we're working, and, you know, to everything being like, "No."

[ Laughs ] We were like, "Yo, this is canceled, and this is canceled.

But when is this gonna happen?"

"We don't know."

"Okay."

[ Laughs ] Besides the initial shock of "Okay, what am I gonna do?"

The initial doubt of "Well, I don't know anything else but playing drums," which comes into play with a lot of musicians.

We don't know anything else so what we've done all our lives is what we studied, is what we put our all into doing.

Can't gig.

Gigging for a musician is like breathing, like, you know, it's something that once it's taken away, it's kind of like your doubts and all your insecurities and your -- 'cause that's where we feel the most comfortable is on stage.

[ Men vocalizing ] The stage is our altar.

The stage is where we go to feel peace, to feel at peace, to feel unity amongst our musicians, our other musicians.

Where we go to feel at peace with ourselves.

A lot of it is meditation, it goes beyond just performing.

It's a way of life for anyone who's ever been on stage or has made a life about being on stage.

We dedicate ourselves.

We've dedicated our lives to know how to be on stage 'cause a lot of people don't get it.

It's a way of how to be on stage, how to, you know, from the smallest thing, from etiquette to little things that we've been blessed to study and know and learn, and so for that to be taken away quickly without us having any say in it is kind of rough.

So we obviously miss it.

The interaction between the stage in the audience is a whole nother energy, and it's something that to not have that, it's a loss, it's a spiritual loss.

It's kind of -- only I could describe it is a kind of felt like a loss.

You lose a piece of you, as an artist, as a musician, as somebody.

You lose a piece of you, you lose a piece of feeling of contentment, like I said, it's -- the stage is our altar, where we go to feel at peace, and we don't have that.

Our piece is kind of... ...it's not there.

[ Laughs ] Our peace is disturbed.

I want to think about it as disturbed, 'cause, like my mother said...

I don't want to think about it that it's gone, but it's interrupted.

[ Chuckles ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪