Saratoga Boy's 'Air Recorder' Performance Goes Viral

SARATOGA (KPIX 5) -- Video of a Bay Area boy who had lost his recorder prior to a school concert but ended up onstage anyway is getting a lot of attention on social media.

11-year-old Avik Belenje actually enjoys playing music, but two weeks ago, his fifth-grade class at Argonaut Elementary in Saratoga was giving a music recital.

Avik had a problem.

"I didn't have my recorder because I lost it a while back," he explained.

But his teacher said it was OK for him to stand with the class anyway even if Avik didn't have an instrument.

"But I really knew the thing and other people who did have their recorders didn't know what do. So I was showing them what to do with the fingers," explained the boy with a laugh.

His older sister Aashna recorded a video of Avik performing and posted it on her social media accounts. And that's when things got pretty crazy.

"She told me she was going to post it and then she says, 'Amah, it's reached one million,'" said their mother, Sweeta Belenje. "I said, 'Why?' That was my question: why?"

Aashna's friends began retweeting the video. Now it has gone completely viral with 4 million views on just her account and about 7 million views in all.

"I got someone sending me pictures of adoption papers, like, 'Sign these for your brother. I want him.' And I was like NO!" exclaimed Aashna.

Avik has a good sense of humor and doesn't mind his brush with fame. But some who viewed the clip have misunderstood and thought the school has forced him onstage.  It's an example of how carefully we must tread in the minefield of the Internet.

"It can be good if used the right way. But if it was done in a mean way, that would have been really bad," said their mother.

"The lesson is for everybody to realize that social media is a very, very powerful tool," agreed the children's father Sukesh Belenje.