New world record :
Largest guitar ensemble-Concordstock sets world record

Largest guitar ensemble-world record set by Meghalaya

 [Oct 26]GUWAHATI, India--More than 1,700 guitarists in India's remote northeast played a Bob Dylan classic on Friday and set the new world record for the largest ever guitar ensemble.

"Ours is surely the largest guitar ensemble in the history of the world," claimed RG Lyngdoh, the chairman of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum (MTDF).

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   The guitarists of all ages and skills performed Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" in the hill state of Meghalaya to start a month-long Autumn Festival in state capital Shillong.

   The actual number of guitarists was 1,731 with one entry being rejected.

   "Meghalaya has once again broken a world record with the 1,730-strong guitar ensemble which played for a continuous five minutes in perfect rhythm," said Lyngdoh.

    The current world record -- 1,683 guitarists -- for the largest ensemble performance, of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," was set on June 3, 2007 at Kansas city in the United States.

   "Every youngster in Meghalaya either owns a guitar or knows how to strum one. So beating Kansas City's record was not a problem," said the MTDF's vice-president Larsing Ming Sawian.

   The annual Indian festival, aimed at promoting Meghalaya and seven northeast sister states, created a new world record last year for the largest drum ensemble, comprising 7,951 people.

    A similar event has been planned by guitarists in London on Nov. 2, Mawkhroh said.