An online event showcases the story of London’s Latin community in the wake of COVID-19.
On 28 November, Fuerza London, a music programme commemorated the experience and courage of London’s Latin community in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, was successfully hosted online. In addition to the rich music and dance, the program also shares documentaries about how residents of the community have come through difficult times.
Fuerza London is co-sponsored by Latino Life, La Clave Fest and Colombians Londres. The content of the program is mainly divided into two types: musical performance and documentary.
Musical performances come from Dorance Lorza & Sexteto Café, Grupo Lokito, Alvorada, Classico Latino, Penya, De Fuego, Rene Alvarez and La Raza. Music has a strong regional flavour. It triggers people’s memories of their hometown. As the beginning of the program, musical performance arouses the audience’s enthusiasm and makes the atmosphere of the show more close to life.
Amaranta Wright is the editor of Latino life. She says the Latino community in London is taking months to consider what is needed and worthy of action.
After the COVID-19 outbreak, offline activities in the community were shut down. The most important thing is that human contact is still necessary during Lockdown. “There are a lot of people from other countries in the community. After Lockdown, in a lack of communication, people want to recognize their identity,” Amaranta said.
Amaranta and her media team prepared for months to tell the story of the community. Finally they made it to the memorial. Documentaries are rich in content and diverse in themes. To make the program more interesting, documentaries and musical performances are mixed into the whole program.
It explores the real life experiences of members of the Latin community in London during Lockdown. The documentary mainly includes poems, dances and stories narrated by the workers. The film also shows how the bereaved family members recover from their emotional lows and return to their normal lives.
Perhaps these stories are not happy. The Marmolejo family lost their father in March 2020. Jose Miranda and Fabian Cataño’s 30 days in ICU. Because of their immigration status, some residents are in poverty following the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We want people in the community to come together and get to know each other. And that’s the main reason why we’re doing this.” Amaranta said.
In order to perfect the quality of documentaries, Latino Life spends more time making documentaries. But they also met many difficulties. “The biggest problem is that we have a hard time finding the best people to interview,” Amaranta said. “This is the first time we have held an online memorial. There are some things we need to try.”
After the COVID-19 outbreak, people invested more time in their own lives. This is a big challenge for the media looking for private news. Family changes and personal life situations are personal issues, and it is difficult to find a specific group of people. Latino Life spent a lot of time and energy in conducting a large number of profiles.
“I know it’s hard work, but the day the online event was broadcast I saw people get involved and we got a lot of praise. It was all worth it,” Amaranta said.