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Locked down in Paris – A Limpopo DJ’s experience
House music DJ and musician Mo Laudi has been in lockdown in Paris for the past week. He spoke to Thami Kwazi about being a South African in country where Covid-19 has caused a social panic, and how people are managing to stay sane.
French Gendarmes check a driver in Paris as a lockdown is imposed to slow the rate of the coronavirus disease spread in France, March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
House music DJ and musician Mo Laudi reallocated to Paris, France, more than three years ago to pursue his music and widen his fan base.
He is currently living in the 19th Arrondissement in the the thick of social distancing.
Italy is the new epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the virus is rapidly spreading through other parts of Europe, including France.
With the death toll in Italy alone now at more than 6,000, far exceeding that of China, many heads of state have issued total lockdowns in their respective countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced a complete lockdown amid the threat of Covid-19, advising people in the country to stay at home.
The could go out to buy groceries and basic amenities, walk their dogs, do certain types of required exercise or seek medical care. People are not allowed to move more than 500 metres from their home.
It’s easy to downplay the human reaction to the pandemic as negativity but the reality is we are indeed living in what feels like an alternate universe where daily social norms and activities have required large adjustments.
Mo Laudi has had an interesting experience adjusting to his new reality.
Mo Laudi in Paris. Picture: Supplied
“It’s indeed a bizarre time, it feels like the apocalypse; there is a strange wartime psychosis. I’m reading a lot, tuning into the news … In the US the sales of guns have gone up, China and the US are blaming each other for the cause or spread of the virus. This morning, I was talking to my mother who is in Polokwane where she overheard someone saying ‘I will never get coronavirus, this disease is for the rich who travel, I’ve never even been to Jo’burg’,” he says.
“I share her concern that if coronavirus hits South Africa harder, there will be pandemonium.
“Imagine it turning up in Alexandra township or the Gugulethu squatter camp – social distancing is still a luxury for most black South Africans.
“Here in Paris, it’s total shutdown; the tension is high on the streets. Shoppers are screaming at each other, police stop you and ask you where you are going, and if you have the obligatory paperwork to be authorised to be outside; toilet paper is like gold dust; small businesses are in a panic.
“Most of my gigs in the foreseeable future have been cancelled.”
The French government has created a website where citizens can download a form that gives them ‘authorisation of movement’, which is permission to leave the house. This can be printed and must be carried at all times in case you bump into the police and need to explain why you’re out in the street.
Financially, it’s also become really tough for independent workers. The DJ was supposed to be coming back to SA for a few shows next month and a family visit. He’s lost 100% of all his business for March and April, and now it seems like it will extend into May too.
The spread of the virus through France is affecting the income of many people who preplanned their freelance finances. This has inspired freelancers like Mo Laudi to get creative about their revenue stream.
“I was in the process of preparing to exhibit my sound work at the Dakar Biennale, Senegal, which has been pushed back to June.
“I have postponed the festival I was preparing for September to next year. All the museums, galleries, clubs, festivals are on lockdown.”
Even though the fear is palpable, there are preservationists who believe the virus has come at the right time. This may not be popular opinion, but pockets of people believe this is happening as it should, as a phase of human culling or natural population control.
Speaking of the various viewpoints Parisians have about the virus, Mo Laudi says: “One colleague told me: ‘It’s a good thing, this virus … globalisation was getting out of control. All this travel pollution … Now the planet can breathe. I hear all sorts of conspiracies about how the virus could have been man-made. One was how China wanted to get rid of their ageing population to save money, buy up foreign businesses, and profit from the creation of a vaccine, based on Dean Koontz’s sci-fi novel Eyes of Darkness and Sylvia Brown’s End of Days.
“I mean, it’s been previously speculated that the apartheid government tried to kill black people by infecting them with Aids, and there are records of this. Anything is possible.”
With all that’s going on around him, Mo Laudi remains optimistic. For him social distancing is enabling quality family time.
“I’m reconnecting with loved ones. I feel it’s a good time to go deep in oneself, be creative and rebuild towards renewal! I have a lot of work to prepare for the upcoming months.
“I have my release with Angelique Kidjo and Philippe Cohen Solal; one of the remixes by Darque, that should be coming out soon, loads of sound installations in various exhibitions coming soon. I’m connecting with people via social media, mostly Instagram.”
The sentiment is, however, that people are already tired of being confined.
“I’ve taken to doing a live DJ set on my balcony, trying to do my part in thanking the doctors. Every evening since confinement started here, people come out on their balconies to clap in appreciation of the medical profession who are taking so many risks to save lives. This celebration also extends to thanking all those who are working in public in this highly contagious time.”
He says he shares his music as a gesture of gratitude.
“It’s an honour to contribute in livening the spirit and mood momentarily and share this distant but human connection. I’m lucky that my family in South Africa are in good health.”
Parisians are respecting the law and staying at home, which makes him optimistic about the future.
“I believe the vaccine will be found soon. I guess this moment has shown how interconnected we are; how what happens the other side of the world can affect us all.”
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