Moroccan-American artists Rachid Halihal and Hassan Hakmoun both live in New York City. Prior to the pandemic, the Big Apple was a sizzling hot bed of restaurants and night clubs featuring music of all genres and ethnicities. But Covid-19 stopped all that.

Both musicians are now pursuing avenues other than music to make a living in New York to meet the continuing challenges.

Originally born in Marrakech in 1963, Hakmoun is a Gnawa master-musician. Famous since the 1980s for fusing the traditional Moroccan genre of trance music with other forms of music, such as jazz and rock, he made his debut in the US in 1987, and has lived in New York ever since. He “revels in the world's musical melting pot."

While for decades music has been his focus, performing with international artists such as Peter Gabriel, he said the pandemic “has definitely changed my life,” especially in the way he now makes his living.

“Right now, I am making a living by dealing cars,” said Hakmoun in an interview with MAP. He said he buys them directly from auctions and then sells them to his clients. “That way they save money with me.”

He also owns two TLC-licensed cars which he sometimes drives himself as an Uber driver or rents to other drivers who pay him weekly. “I make good money,” he said.

When asked what he would tell young artists these days, Hakmoun said, “You’re always going to need to have a backup in life.” He advised “stay in school and get a good education -- and still play music. That way you won’t depend on just music.”

Originally from Fes, Halihal is a classically trained vocalist and instrumentalist, a virtuoso on the oud and an accomplished violinist. He has performed music reflecting the spirit, art, and traditions of Morocco and North Africa for decades in the US and around the world. He has made his home in the US since 2001.

Playing concerts, festivals, and gigs, and teaching oud and violin students have been his bread and butter since then. Now, Halihal is in the process of launching a new online business.

“The pandemic has changed the way I make my living -- big time, in every way,” he said. “Economically, mentally, socially.” With New York restaurants and other venues he frequently performed in having been completely shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, his source of income dried up overnight.

He said he had to “try to learn different things to make a living.” Previously a businessman in Agadir, he observed that internet-based businesses that met a consumer need or demand were able to withstand the pandemic in a way that brick and mortar enterprises could not.

But before he created his online shop (which he hopes to launch soon), he watched many YouTube videos about how to make money with e-commerce.

He sees that as insurance for his future. “Ten years from now,” he said, “I hope to have good health and to have saved enough money from my business to retire and play music.”

Like Hakmoun, Halihal advised young artists to have a job other than music to make a living. “Music is beautiful, but it’s not always for making money,” said Halihal. “Music is for your soul and to share with other people.”

Singer Deborah Benner and guitarist Michael Bard have performed together as a married couple for decades in the Washington DC area, both as soloists and as the popular band Trio Caliente.

“The pandemic really changed the way we do business. It made us think outside the box on how we provide our services,” Benner said. “At the beginning of the pandemic, all of our gigs were cancelled, representing many thousands of dollars and bookings over many months. We’re both musicians so it was not just one part of the couple affected. Michael lost about a third of his [guitar] students, and I lost over half of my [voice] students. To keep the lights on and the roof over our head, we had to think outside of the box.”

And to do that, like Halihal, they had to learn totally new technology. They couldn’t perform live, so they started live streaming on YouTube and Facebook. “We created ‘couch concerts,’ said Benner,” and added a “tip jar” feature for people who wanted to make a donation. “Our new skills were tech skills and creativity skills.”

The duo tried “things that we had never pondered in our lives before” because they had to keep the money coming in.

One of these innovations was the “guitar gram.” People were no longer able to get together to celebrate special events, so the duo went to a friend’s home and stood outside on the sidewalk and played music for his birthday. They did all different styles of music. Everybody came outside to listen, and the guitar gram was born.

As they started to market their guitar grams, they learned about video technology and lighting.

Pretty soon, said Benner, “someone wanted an opera serenade. Another wanted a Broadway number. We did a ‘sweet 16’ birthday party where I sang Taylor Swift.”

During the pandemic, philanthropy took on a new meaning for those who had the means to help others. This manifested itself in a program that Bard participated in to help US military veterans suffering from PTSD to learn to play the guitar. Funded by the Marlowe Guitar International "Welcome Home" Program which donated Córdoba guitars, Bard distributed guitars to veterans and then also taught them remotely, wherever they were stationed, how to play. “Here when we thought we would have no work, new work filled the void because of creative thinking.”

The couple will continue all of these innovations, said Benner. Their live performing is coming back with gigs scheduled at local restaurants, and at big venues like the Kennedy Center. They also have bookings for a jazz festival in Florida and West Virginia. But even with the vaccine, the new variants are posing the danger of lockdowns.

Benner advised young artists to “think outside the box. Be innovative. You don’t have to stop what you’re doing, but you may have to rework it. Find a niche that needs to be filled. Provide a service that contributes to the wellbeing of others. It’s not just about doing a gig. Ask yourself, what can I do to serve the greater good?