Meghalaya to set another world record on largest guitar ensemble

Shillong, Sep 19 (UNI) Come autumn, guitarists of all ages and skill will gather here from all over Meghalaya to attempt a new world record for the largest guitar ensemble.

More than 2,000 guitarists will come together at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on October 26 to herald the month-long annual Autumn Festival.

The Autumn Festival, 2007, is aimed at projecting Meghalaya and its other seven sister states to the world community, as a region which can boast of positive and constructive ideas.

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

''Our attempt shall be to gather over 2,000 guitarists from all over Meghalaya, the Northeast and also tourists to perform Bob Dylan's classic 'Knocking on Heaven's Door','' Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum Chairman and Information Technology Minister Robert G Lyngdoh told UNI here.

Last autumn, Meghalaya had created a new world record for the largest drum ensemble. 7,951 drummers, irrespective of age and skill surpassed the record of Po Leung Kuk - a charity organisation in Hong Kong helping orphaned children - which assembled 7,727 drummers.

''We succeeded last year too and we don't see any obstruction to create another world record in Meghalaya,'' Mr Lyngdoh said.

Mr Lyngdoh also expressed hope that the tunes from the guitar strings of this event shall attract the local, national and international media's attention on Meghalaya and Northeast as a whole.

The largest guitar ensemble will be followed by a 'Vintage car pageant'- a presentation of classic automobiles from Shillong and Guwahati to be part of the festival.

The star of the automobile pageant shall be the Model T Ford that was featured in the film 'Gandhi' apart from the American World War II jeeps.

The weeklong festival, which had attracted domestic and international tourists will be featuring traditional as well as modern dance forms, music, food fiesta, competitions in kite-flying, fishing and archery.

UNI