Farid Found His Piano Dream Between the Shops of Plaza

Five years ago, Farid Sheek arrived in the Netherlands, following his mother who had fled Iran after facing political persecution. Back in Iran, Farid, now 23, came from a wealthy family. As a child, he had everything he could possibly want. Life in the Netherlands, however, was very different. Suddenly, he had to survive on just twenty euros a week. He could not afford the bus or train. “I biked 40 kilometers to school every day, through rain and wind,” he says. During those long rides, he listened to poetry and classical music on a worn-out Walkman. “Often I rode home in the dark, staring up at the stars, thinking deeply. What did I want from life? A lot of things were going wrong.”

They first settled in Brabant, but it did not bring them happiness. “We came from Isfahan, a city larger than the entire Netherlands. In Brabant, nothing ever happened. People were always indoors.” Farid felt alone. So he and his mother moved to Rotterdam in search of a fresh start.

He had no money for a piano, the instrument he had always dreamed of playing. “And then I discovered this piano. My dream came true.”

Adjusting He began to play for hours inside the Plaza shopping center. Sometimes his own pieces, sometimes Beethoven. He refused money from passersby. “I play out of love and hope. I want to give something to people. But many of them barely stopped. They walked by as if they heard nothing. That took time to get used to. I wondered if they didn’t think I was good.”

Eventually, he began to understand the fast-paced nature of life in Rotterdam. “People are in a hurry. They just want to get to work. And that is completely okay.”

The shopkeepers began to take notice. The man from the watch store, the women at the tobacco shop, and the staff at the Italian café encouraged him to keep playing. Farid made a decision to give everything he had to survive here. “I started studying hard. Within three months, I spoke Dutch.”

He is now a student. Not at the conservatory, but studying event management. “I studied music in Iran. But there you are expected to do everything by the rules and are allowed nothing. I wanted to play my own compositions, but that was not allowed. I was forced to play Beethoven. So many things are forbidden in Iran. Even short sleeves.”

Concerts

Today, Farid is much happier. He has found his rhythm. He gives concerts, has recorded a CD, and is building a life on his own. His mother has since left. Her new Dutch partner moved to Lanzarote, and she went with him. “I didn’t go. I stayed. I am alone again, but I have built something here.”

He even has his own apartment in Capelle. “I have a digital piano now. I don’t really need to play in the shopping center anymore, but I still go back. It reminds me of those early years in this city.”

Farid dreams of something else now. Something bigger. Something that belongs to Rotterdam. He hopes to one day play the grand piano at De Doelen concert hall. “That is my dream. It might be hard to believe, but it is true. That piano is so beautiful.”