Angel E. Nieto, 63: 'Píllaro Viejo'

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Angel E. Nieto / Courtesy of Priscilla Nieto LoBiondo

In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Two years later, more than a million people have died in the United States from the disease. To put a face on this number and pay respect to the departed, NPR asked our audience to share songs that reminded them of a loved one lost to COVID-19. What follows are individual stories of those who have passed, those mourning them and the songs that continue to unite them.

My father lived in Brooklyn, N.Y., for most of his life and moved to Newark, N.J., in 2019. He never got to go back and visit his hometown in Ecuador. He had plans to become a U.S. citizen and eventually go, but that never happened.

This was my mom's and my dad's song. They would always dance to it at family parties. Whenever I hear this song, I think of him and his sense of humor. He was a great dancer, but above all, he was an amazing father. —Priscilla Nieto LoBiondo, daughter

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