To organize an online music festival in the full spate of the pandemic was like an ocean breeze at the very heart of a desert. The whole world has been overwhelmed by the year 2020, which constrained us to realize what self-isolation means; we were deprived of many common things, such as meetings with dear people, holidays spent in the bosom of the family, a vacation spent by the seashore or in the mountains, having rest out-of-doors and even simple walks through the city parks.
At the same time, self-isolation made us become more responsible towards the people surrounding us, to take care of the most affected ones, and taught us to join forces in order to overcome the situation we found ourselves in overnight.
Thus, on April 8th, 2020 Chateau Cristi winery organized the first online music festival in Moldova – Quarantine Fest, whereby the invited musicians “unpursed” the foreheads and put in a better mood the audience staying in self-isolation.
For about four hours, such bands as Nikorasong’s, Via Daca, SunStroke Project, singers Tania Cerga and Andrei Glavan, solo performer of Parov Stelar – Elena Karafizi, Pasha Parfeni, and Natalia Barbu has charged us with positive energy by singing many covers and own songs, through the live transmission at many pages on Facebook simultaneously.
More than 70,000 people, who attended the first online festival in Moldova, have contributed substantially to the collection of funds to support the initiative #ÎmpreunăPentruVoi.
And in only three weeks from the start, festival Quarantine Fest passed the Prut river and on April 29th the audience of both banks of the river took part in the second edition of Quarantine Fest: UNISON`G, where positive vibrations were shared by Elena Karafizi, Mark Stam, Natalia Barbu, Vanotek and Lori, as well as by Irina Rimes.
The organization of Quarantine Fest was a unique and unforgettable experience for our winery. We have experienced sleepless nights spent seeking out technical solutions for providing direct broadcasting, we had the outburst of emotions throughout the event, but the audience provided us with a huge sense of accomplishment we felt that together we can make great things, which bring changes for the better.