With barbed-wire dividing them, hundreds of singers joined a Canadian music group Sunday in dual performances at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The two founders of Toronto-based Choir! Choir! Choir! led separate choirs on either side of the border in a live-streamed performance of "With a Little Help from My Friends" by The Beatles. Daveed Goldman took to the stage at Border Field State Park in San Diego, Calif., while Nobu Adilman led a choir in the nearby Mexican border town of Tijuana.
“We hope people get super inspired by it and just having people come together, sing together across a border and spread that love,” said Adilman in a video promoting the event.
Though the border towns are inevitably tied to U.S. immigration policies that remain a divisive issue under U.S. President Donald Trump, the performance was meant to be apolitical. Choir! Choir! Choir! and ArtPower, co-organizers from the University of California San Diego, were focused on “friendship, connection and community,” as one organizer said during a live-stream Sunday.
"We're not trying to make this a political event," Adilman said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press earlier this month. "The event is about communication, it's about keeping doors open and keeping the conversation going. We're better when we come together to celebrate each other, and just the simple act of singing together is a jumping-off point for so many beautiful ways to connect, beyond the singing."
The live-streams were met with praise online from viewers who called the event “beautiful.”
“I’m crying tears of joy!” wrote one Facebook user. “This is how we change the world!!!”
“Music brings us all together,” wrote another. “This is beautiful.”
With files from The Canadian Press.
