Indian state strums its way to world guitar ensemble record

Oct 26, 2007, 14:12 GMT

New Delhi - India's north-eastern state of Meghalaya on Friday set a world record for the largest-ever guitar ensemble, beating the existing Guinness Book of World Records feat held by Kansas city for such an ensemble, a news report said.

'A total of 1,730 guitarists strummed in unison to create history. We are simply ecstatic over this show that went off without a glitch,' Aiban Mawkhrow, general secretary of Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum, which organized the event, told IANS news agency.

The previous record was held by 1,721 guitarists in Kansas city who performed the rock number, 'Smoke on the Water' on June 4 this year.

The guitarists who gathered in the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in the state capital Shillong from the early hours on Friday played the Bob Dylan classic 'Knocking on Heaven's Door'.

Organizers said the mood was upbeat as the number 'Knocking on Heavens' Door' reverberated through the hilly Shillong city amidst cheering and singing crowds.

The guitar ensemble called Rhythms of Meghalaya was the opening item at the 10-day-long Autumn Festival that began on Friday.

In the absence of an adjudicator sent by Guinness, the organizers filmed and documented the entire event and would be sending the recording to London for authentication. The official recognition could take up to a month.

'An adjudicator from Guinness was supposed to come for the event, but due to some unavoidable circumstances he could not make it. We have followed the guidelines given to us by the Guinness authorities in going ahead with the record-breaking feat,' Mawkhrow added.

This is not the first time that Meghalaya has taken a shot at breaking a world record.

Last year, a band of about 7,951 drummers in Shillong had set a new world record for the largest drum ensemble by performing for more than five minutes in perfect rhythm during the annual Autumn Festival.

The previous Guinness world record for the largest drum ensemble was set in February 2005 by Po Leung Kuk, a charity organisation in Hong Kong helping orphaned children, which assembled 7,727 drummers.

State authorities said they were trying to promote India's north- eastern region through such events.

'We are trying to promote the region through music ... last year it was the drum circle and this time it was the guitar ensemble and maybe next year something different,' state education minister RG Lyngdoh told the agency.

India's north-east is known as a land of rugged beauty but a region beset with separatist conflicts and insurgencies which have claimed an estimated 50,000 lives since India's independence in 1947.