(NEXSTAR) – Just days before his tragic death, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins shared a sweet moment with a 9-year-old musician from South America who coaxed him out of his hotel by playing her drums on the street.
Emma Sofía, a young drummer who goes by @emmasofiamusic on Instagram, had been hoping to meet the band when they played the Asunciónico music festival in Paraguay on March 22, but the concert was canceled due to severe weather and flooding.
“Emma started first a campaign [on social media] to reach the Foo Fighters because she wanted to play with them,” Emma’s father Julius Peralta told Nexstar. “We never got any response from them but we went to the show nonetheless.”
When the festival was canceled at the last minute, Peralta said they planned to return home for the evening until some friends called to say the band was staying at the Sheraton hotel in Asuncion.
“We took her drum kit and went,” he said.
Soon enough, Emma was sitting behind her drum kit on the sidewalk, jamming out in front of the hotel. In footage shared to social media, she could be seen playing along to “The Pretender” by Foo Fighters and Nirvana’s “In Bloom” while a crowd of fellow fans sang out the lyrics.
After about a half-hour, Hawkins made an appearance and scanned the crowd for Emma. Peralta has since shared a photo of the two on Twitter, where it has earned more than 250,000 likes.
“Dreams come true,” he wrote in the caption.
Emma continued to play for a little while longer in the hopes of getting Dave Grohl’s attention, but it was getting late “so we went home,” Peralta said.
On social media, Emma’s parents explained that they hadn’t immediately informed her of Hawkins’ death, as they were hoping to spare her “a lot of pain.” She was performing in her first show on Friday night, they explained, and they “didn’t have the courage to break the magic of that unforgettable moment,” according to a translation of the post.
Emma’s parents said they were planning to let her know of Hawkins’ passing sometime on Saturday.
Foo Fighters confirmed Hawkins’ death on Friday night, and asked for privacy at “this unimaginably difficult time.” The band subsequently canceled its upcoming concerts in light of the tragic news.
No cause of death was immediately provided by authorities in Bogota, Colombia, where the band was scheduled to play on Friday.