Three years after the confinement by the Covid, the great promise launched by the composer Mateu Peramiquel and the singer Mar Puig has come true. This couple, from confinement in their house in Ullastrell forced by the pandemic, created a song that went viral and whose lyrics, in a moment of uncertainty and fear, assured: “We will hug each other again”.
“We bring a little light,” recalls Mateu during the interview on the set of La Vanguardia for the video report that revives how music could give hope to many families in the worst moments of the pandemic. “The idea arose on the occasion of World Theater Day,” Mar points out about an anniversary that was celebrated on March 27, 2020 with all the stages closed. “We wanted to make a fun music video, with families at home singing and dancing,” explains Mateu. Andrea Jiménez was in charge of the choreography, which grandparents, parents and children reproduced from her confinement.
Maria Font, with her daughters, Mariona Morral, 24, and Vinyet Morral, 11, recalls how they signed up for this initiative. “It was very nice to see how the other families also danced the same choreographies,” says Maria. “We took the opportunity to do a family activity,” Mariona points out. “We were surprised by the success it had, that it appeared in La Vanguardia,” says her mother, while her daughters nod in agreement.
Mateu and Mar put together the video clip from the recordings that the families made with their cell phones. “It was very, very home-like,” recalls the composer. And it is that, with the confinement, there was no other remedy.
On February 13, the first death from Covid in Spain had been registered in Valencia. It was only the beginning. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), at the end of 2020 a total of 60,358 people died from the virus, although the same source indicates that up to 14,481 more deaths could be attributed to the virus. Thus, the first year of the pandemic there were 17.7% more deaths in Spain than in the previous year. On March 14, with the cases already skyrocketing, the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced the state of alarm. The Spaniards were confined to their homes. Everything had changed, but citizen movements of solidarity and encouragement arose in the homes. And culture was at the forefront.
Mateu and Mar saw how their performances of the musical BRUNA, one of the creations of their WeColorMusic factory, were cancelled. “At work level we went from 100 to absolute zero,” Mar still laments. But, at home, they decided to create the song Ens tornarem a abraçar (we will hug each other again). “We dedicated ourselves to the performing arts, the theaters closed, we ran out of shows, it was a shock,” Mateu acknowledges. Now, in the confinement “there was a red alert movement because culture was having a very bad time and people could not live without culture or without its entertainment proposals,” explains the musician. That’s one of the reasons why his song went viral so quickly.
“We all realized the importance of culture,” says Mar, “what made us forget all the harsh situation we were experiencing was listening to singers that we might not have known at all, but who suddenly appeared on Instagram or wherever and they did a concert for the people”. “Yes, suddenly you discovered new things on the Internet because you couldn’t leave the house and these were your windows, the screens,” says Mateu.
“When the confinement began, you only thought about your daughters, that they cannot go to school, that they will not be able to be with their friends, that they will not be able to see their grandparents, that they will not be able to relax a bit from so much anguish,” recalls Maria. Luckily, at least her family lives in a farmhouse in Ullastrell, so her confinement was not as harsh as in city flats.
“At first it was scary because of what they said on the news, a lot of people were dying and we had to watch a lot, I was worried,” explains Vinyet, who was eight years old at the time. When it seemed that she had become ill, her mother narrates how she embraced her with rudimentary protection: “I covered myself with a raincoat, with gloves and everything, and I was with her in her bed.” In those first moments of confinement a somewhat “catastrophic” atmosphere had been created. “It was like very chaotic,” recalls MarÃa.
However, Vinyet acknowledges that at first he liked “to be at home, spend more time with the family, without going to school, like a long weekend.” “We watched movies, we cooked, we did things together that we don’t do now because we don’t have time,” Maria explains, “I had a good time with them at home, but at the same time I saw them suffer, since they couldn’t relate to anyone else.”
But, the days passed and passed and the confinement lengthened. “In the end, we were all already tired of the situation, you get overwhelmed by not being able to do anything, especially us who are very social,” Maria admits. “The negative part is that I couldn’t be with my friends, only with a video call and I ended up bored,” confesses Vinyet, who also feared for her 102-year-old grandmother, whom she was trying to entertain.
“Older people had a very hard time and especially those who lived alone at home because they couldn’t relate to anyone,” explains Maria, who took advantage of the moment to go shopping to greet her mother.
“In the confinement there was that fear of not knowing when it was going to end, when we would return to normality, when all that would be solved,” Mateu acknowledges. “At first, like everyone I suppose, it was like ‘well, how cool’, it will only be 15 days at home and I am from being at home, but, of course, that was the initial reaction, because then came what came …”
“Yes, at first, I said to myself, okay, it will be 15 days of vacation, but, of course, then you realize that everything went wrong and it was harder,” explains Mar, who worked as a music teacher at a school and had to adapt online classes. “At that time you had to be very creative,” she says. “I saw her more stressed and a little saturated,” says Mateu.
“I never stopped seeing my parents because my father worked in the town store and I would go shopping on purpose to go see him,” Mar confesses, “and my mother has a dog that she would take for a walk and see her through the window at home, but I did stop seeing my grandfather, because of the older people we all suffered more”. They are situations with which many people can feel identified.
Finally, the confinement was lifted and Spain gradually returned to what was called “the new normality”. This spring, three years after releasing their song, Mar and Mateu have not only hugged each other again, but they can also hold their newborn daughter Clà udia in their arms.
But, the de-escalation was not rapid, but gradual, with ups and downs and with more deaths from Covid. “At school it was a bit strange because we all went with a mask and, when they later took it off, it was strange to see the faces of children that you did not imagine were like that when you saw them without the mask,” Vinyet explains.
“In our family we are very kissing and very hugging. So, not being able to hug each other, not being able to kiss each other was like, whoosh!… And the truth is that I had hope and I knew that yes, we would become to hug, even if it was covered, with a raincoat or whatever”, Maria emphasizes.
“Nothing was the same anymore,” Mar acknowledges. “I think that in the end we have won in some things, for example, now the mask is used more in health centers. We have had a daughter and people did not come to the hospital because, since Covid, that is more respected”, Mateu deepens.
“Although we have returned to a normality that we had before the pandemic or very similar, there are many things that are not the same and even the people who lived through those moments believe that we are not living everything the same as before,” explains Mar, before reflecting : “If you think that you were locked up at home for three months without being able to leave, you see things from another point of view, from another perspective.”
“We had plans with our friends that had to be postponed, such as concerts and trips and that we have never done anymore,” laments Mariona, “but you learn from everything and they are all experiences; in addition, new plans and other opportunities arose.” Now, at 24 years old, she has been thinking optimistically (and with some resignation) since her youth: “The average age of a life is 80 years and the Covid has been three years, it’s a little bit more than they put you”.
“Now perhaps we are more empathetic depending on the case, for example, with the elderly,” Maria reasons after the experience of Covid. “Yes, and we are more careful with hygiene,” says her daughter Mariona from her. “Yes, now we wash our hands more,” confirms her mother, “and we pay more attention to the environment.” “And to zero kilometer products, more organic and ecological,” Mariona asserts. “Although, on the other hand, it seemed that with the Covid the pollution was going down and, now, the traffic is horrible again,” concludes Maria.
Be that as it may, three years after the confinement, the omen of the song Ens tornarem a abraçar, which ended up being presented in theaters as exit music, has come true. And, to prove it, Mateu, Mar, Maria, Mariona and Vinyet hug each other on the set while smiling, watching little Clà udia, the newborn who is the best example that life goes on beyond Covid.