It's a way to escape and de-stress, says food delivery rider playing piano in viral TikTok videos

SINGAPORE - Mr Adam Syah, whose renditions of pop tunes on a community piano posted on TikTok have caught the public’s attention, is a self-taught player who has never owned the musical instrument.

The 21-year-old student and part-time GrabFood delivery rider said he started playing around with the piano when he was in secondary school as there was one in the foyer that was made available to students.

He said in an interview with The Straits Times: “Since the piano was not really used by anyone else, I had a chance to play almost every day during recess so I could practise whichever song I was trying to learn at the time.

“I would watch YouTube to learn the basic chords in a song and then figure the melody out by myself.”

He said he had not touched a piano in at least a year prior to his session at the community piano at Block 107 Yishun Ring Road that he came across when he was out delivering food.

“I went to send the food to the customer first, as I did not want it to get cold, and then on my way down decided to just stop and try playing a song,” said Mr Adam, who is pursuing a diploma in fine arts at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@morrdecai/video/7180728143613840641[/embed]

His first TikTok video at the community piano posted on Dec 24 – of the tune Rather Be by British electronic group Clean Bandit – has chalked up over 160,000 views and more than 22,000 likes while a subsequent video, in which he played the melody from Ed Sheeran’s hit Shape Of You, has garnered nearly 80,000 views and over 7,000 likes.

The response has been a nice surprise, he said, adding that he had posted the videos as keepsakes.

The responses included one from Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. He commented in a Facebook post on Mr Adam’s performance: “Something truly joyful about this. The undiscovered, free-spirited talent. The beauty of spontaneous jamming.”

Mr Adam is getting similar attention as two cleaners at the Pandan Valley condominium estate after a video of their musical talents had drawn many views and likes in August.

The two men had chanced upon a discarded piano while taking refuge from the rain at a bin centre there. Mr Sumali Sakarwi, 64, played the piano while his colleague Rosli Samat, 49, sang in their rendition of Ku Di Halaman Rindu, a hit by Malaysian rock band Lefthanded.

While Mr Adam said he has received many comments from people encouraging him to pursue music as a full-time career, he said he wants to just focus on finishing his diploma studies in the next six months and enlisting for national service.

He said: “I enjoy playing the piano as well as my other hobbies such as playing the guitar, skateboarding and BMX riding, but for me, these activities are a way to escape and de-stress, so I would rather not turn it into a career.”

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@morrdecai/video/7181101763934653698/[/embed]

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.