Bookworms in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were in for a shock when a flash mob transformed the quiet library into a concert hall filled with the sound of Coldplay’s most emotional hit and a surprise performance from an eight-year-old vocal prodigy.
This clip went viral just under a month ago, yet it’s already racked up over 176,900 views to date. Music Man readers can watch the magic unfold in the video below…
Performing in El Ateneo Grand Splendid – an impressive 20th-century theatre converted at the turn of the century into what National Geographic would name “the world’s most beautiful bookstore” – flashmob leader and pianist Joe Jenkins takes a seat at the grand piano, surrounded by café tables packed with visitors.
The camera pans to latch onto the first singer, shocking the readers with her exquisite voice, countless turning to catch her belting Coldplay’s “Fix You” from the upper balcony. A man at the café tables stands to deliver the next line, then a lady lost amid the bookshelves, before a 17-person choir appears on another balcony level overlooking the scene, chanting Coldplay’s next verse to their mystified audience.
With violinists and cellists soon lining the tender tones of Joe’s piano, the anticipation rises as an eight-year-old boy named Pedro Ezequiel is spotted awaiting his time to shine. Meanwhile, countless awestruck readers, children, and parents gaze around to watch the surprise musicians emerge from all corners like a library-wide game of whack-a-mole.
Then, young Pedro steals a solo singing the legendary chorus lyrics from his own balcony, his tiny voice echoing with sweetness and vulnerability as the child braves taking charge of the flash mob completely alone.
The lead singers gather on the ground floor, and the audience chants along, the library erupts into applause as the crowd assumes the end has come with the second chorus’s final line. But then, the video’s biggest surprise unfolds…
An electric guitarist ascends the escalator, letting loose the iconic sound of Coldplay’s grand finale guitar solo as he wanders about the readers and musicians, the choir swelling beneath his atmospheric tones. Pedro sneaks his way to Joe’s ground floor piano to wrap up the cover with a final solo, the song fading into silence around him as one lady wipes tears from her eyes.
As this video goes YouTube-viral, the moment is leaving Coldplay fans feeling wracked with jealousy, with one top commenter even writing: “Wow… I can only imagine the feeling of being there in that exact moment. The atmosphere, the voices, the music. It’s pure magic! I wish I could have witnessed it live, because this is the kind of experience that stays in your soul forever.”