Angry uncle tells Singapore buskers, 'Lower your volume. You're too loud!’

SINGAPORE: The members of a band were busking recently, doing their thing and no doubt bringing life and joy to passersby and onlookers. 

However, one man got upset with them for being too loud, and the band was able to record the incident on video.

Instead of simply passing by and getting as far away from the music, he confronted them several times, telling them, “Lower your volume. You're too loud!”

Jazz Lee (@jazzicalee), a music teacher and the lead singer of a band called J.P.A.G, posted a video of the encounter on her Instagram and TikTok accounts.

It begins with the four-member band performing the Bruno Mars song, Locked Out of Heaven. They had been “peacefully” playing for more than two hours outside the MRT station at Pasir Ris.

Mid-song, the uncle approached the group, telling them they were too loud.

In the video, Ms Lee and the guitarist can be seen looking at someone off camera, while a male voice is heard saying “Lower your volume, you’re too loud,” more than once.

She noted wryly that the man’s voice, however, was “almost as loud as our four instruments combined.”

After the man told the band to “lower your volume, you’re too loud,” again, Ms Lee is seen nodding to him in acknowledgement, and the guitarist stops playing.

But he shouts “lower your volume, you’re too loud,” yet again.

At this point, the keyboardist also turns down the sound on her instrument.

Ms Lee wrote in a text overlay that she was “feeling uneasy but trying to stay composed.”

The uncle, who was dressed in a blue shirt and pants, then loudly repeated, “Lower your volume, you’re too loud,” and approached the keyboardist. He can be seen angrily marching up to the keyboardist and menacingly pointing his finger in her face several times.

At that point, Ms Lee told the group to stop playing and pack up for their own safety. And while the Police came, by the time they arrived, the man had already left.

Ms Lee wrote that she was thankful that no one had gotten hurt, but also asked others what they would have done in the situation.

Commenters on her post showed her and the band a lot of support.

“My son was the one who called out uncle x3 and donated! Uncle was the one being LOUD! Keep goin guys u sound awesome!” a TikTok user wrote.

“I was with my daughter when I saw it happen. I tried to stop him… after he left. He followed me to McDonald’s to tell me off,” added another. 

Others suggested what the band can do if such a situation recurs.

"Maybe my advice is to stop singing and directly tell him that you have a permit. 3 people in ur band vs 1 uncle; I think he will back down. This kind of person is cowardly when you confront back. Idk if it's realistic or safe for you, but that would be my advice,” a commenter wrote. /TISG

Read also: Singapore busker Bryan Wong assaulted by stranger while performing in Covent Garden, London