Snippets during the Age of COVID-19: May 19, 2020.

The Dimash Book Project that I participated in, honoring Dimash Kudaibergen, a singer from Kazakhstan, has been completed. Coordinated by Nikita Lila, a group of 22 artists, poets, and writers from 16 countries created the content of the book which paid tribute to this incredible vocal artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has an astounding 6-octave range.

The book was published in Germany and had been intended to be personally given to him at his concert in Hamburg, Germany. Enter COVID-19, which canceled all concerts and public gatherings. Though this was a severe blow to Nikita's plans, she persisted in her quest to get this precious book to Dimash.

As a result of Nikita's efforts to contact the Dimash organization, Alga Peterburg, a Russian YouTube channel, dedicated to all things about Dimash, was interested in creating a video documentary on Nikita Lila and her journey in this collaborative effort. It's in Russian with English subtitles. It was a bit of a shock seeing my photograph with my full name in Cyrillic and English. The video is entitled, "Dimash - Reaction of Dears from around the world - a book about Dimash."

Nikita eventually decided it to send it by mail to Khazakstan and as you are reading this, the package is on its way. I can't wait to hear about his reaction to the book!