Hundreds of people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border joined voices on Sunday afternoon to sing The Beatles and send a message that "our voices together will transcend barriers."
The event, which took place simultaneously in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico, was organized by Canada-based singing group Choir! Choir! Choir! along with ArtPower at UC San Diego.
Organizers said over 800 people took part.
Choir! Choir! Choir! co-founder Daveed Goldman led the ad-hoc chorus in San Diego in singing the bilingual rendition of "With a Little Help From Our Friends," while co-founder Nobu Adilmal--sporting a t-shirt that read "Love Everyone"--led those in Tijuana.
In a social media post ahead of the event, Adilman said the event would "encourage conversations across the border, which we think is really important right about now." The performance of the song, he added, "is going to be really beautiful, really powerful, and we want to send this joy out into the world."
In the Facebook description for the event, the organizers explained how "music knows no boundaries and our voices together will transcend barriers."
In this participatory event, singers of all levels will unite on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to sing with Choir! Choir! Choir! and celebrate the unique friendship, culture, and community we share in the border region of San Diego and Tijuana. There are few places on earth so scenic where you can gather people from two countries at once to create beautiful music together and share in how special it is to be in this particular place in the world. While we will be divided by the physical border, music knows no boundaries and our voices together will transcend barriers.
Commenters watching the livestreams praised the simultaneous events with comments such as "Take this trump," "This is how we change the world!!!," and "Such an important message to the world!"
