ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole known as Tik Tok. One minute you’re glancing at a video someone may have sent and the next thing you know it’s 2 a.m. It happens to the best of us.
For Sebastian Gabriel, the experience was different. Posting videos was a way to showcase Gabriel’s talent, playing the electric violin. Posts would include Gabriel playing a tune, covering popular songs. His talent stemming from the tender age of 5, playing the violin in Venezuela.
The classically trained musician even played in the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra before coming to the states. The move brought a lot of changes. Gabriel had to adjust and really sell his talent. That’s where Tik Tok came in. The platform would soon change his career.
“I was playing a Maluma song called Hawaii at a rooftop gig and when I played it, people started dancing, singing along,” Gabriel said.
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Little did he know this video would have big impacts on his life.
“That video just went viral,” Gabriel said with a smile. “I was checking it and I was shocked it went from 2,000 views to 200,000 and then 600,000 views to a million and you’re like, ‘How does this even happen?’”
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♬ original sound - Sebastian Gabriel
Video views went well above a million, but something else started happening.
“At the same time I was just receiving requests from people like come to New York and play this and come play that song at my wedding,” Gabriel said.
The next day Gabriel woke up to even more requests.
“My email was just completely crazy,” Gabriel said. “I have over 500 emails wanting to book me, I was like, ‘I can’t do all this alone.’”
Gabriel needed a team. With his brother and girlfriend’s help, they sorted through email requests for him to play at weddings and parties from California to Puerto Rico and even Mexico.
“I received requests for like MLS players saying, ‘Hey come to Cancun I want you to do my wedding,’” Gabriel said.
Hear more about Gabriel’s musical history including the brief pause he took from music and more by listening to the latest episode of Riff On This.